Eye of the Storm
by Galaxy-Mitsuko-Pegasus
Summary: The Eye of the Storm. Nobody knows just what, or who, it is, but one thing everyone in the universe does know is that it's dangerous. It destroys entire worlds, attacking without warning. Will Zero and his friends be able to find it and take it down, or will it conquer everything else first? ZeRen, probably also some GinMado. Sci-fi AU. Rated T just in case.
1. Beware

**Yush! Finally, I get to post this! Not much to say, I suppose, other than enjoy!**

* * *

_No matter who or what or where or when, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_No matter land or sea or day or night, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_Human or alien, living or dead, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_Friend or foe, wherever you go, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_While tales are told of silver and gold, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_Where songs are sung by many a tongue, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_Many have fought it, many have fallen. Beware the Eye of the Storm._

_To some it brings hope, to others doom, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_Some sing praise, while others curse, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_The form familiar, and yet it's not, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_It soars in the air and darts through the clouds, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_It fires and destroys, both ships and convoys, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_So, wherever you go, you always will know, beware the Eye of the Storm._

_No matter where you go, you can always know… To Beware the Eye of the Storm._

* * *

The Eye of the Storm. Nobody knew what- or perhaps who- it was, but every planet had some level of fear of it. Some said it was an ancient race of warriors, while others said that it couldn't have been around for very long. Whatever it was, it had kept universal crime rates lower than they had been when it appeared. Nobody could really pinpoint when it had first appeared, but nearly everyone had heard the name. Some of the more underdeveloped civilizations sang about it, writing it into their legends as some sort of deity. The more developed planets did not do so, rather thinking of it as a highly powerful being or group of beings that nobody could control. Of all the mysteries in the universe, the Eye was one of the most debated. Some said that it didn't exist. Others claimed not only that it existed, but that they had seen it.

All of the major galactic powers remained mostly silent on the subject. All of them had some sort of procedure for what to do if the Eye should be encountered, but those files were likely dusty and rarely used. Diplomatic alliances were occasionally formed to create some sort of mutual protection against the Eye, but those rarely lasted. Whatever it was, it was feared greatly. At the slightest rumbling noise from the sky, many planets would panic. Shadows flickering among the stars would throw the crew of any spaceship into chaos. Every ship's captain, every fleet commander dreamed of being the one to take down the Eye of the Storm, whatever it was. The enthusiasm trickled down to the crews and subordinates of every government in existence. Everyone wanted to be the first to unravel the mystery, to take out the intergalactic threat. The question was, who, how, and when?

"We made it!"

"I almost can't believe this."

"Believe it! We're officially graduating!"

"I wonder what ship we'll be on?"

A young man with black and orange hair was walking down a wide, paved path with trees in neat rows on either side. His friends were walking with him, all of them wearing collared grey uniforms with their names on them.

"This is so strange. Are you nervous, Zero?" A young woman with blonde hair sighed, looking towards the high outdoor stage and stadium where they were headed.

"Yeah. I hope we end up on the same ship. It'd kinda suck if we didn't." Zero replied.

"You mean that you want you and Ren to be on the same ship so that you can keep dating." a cream-haired man said.

Zero shrugged. Ren blushed.

"Shut up Shinobu." the blonde said.

Shinobu chuckled as he and the others were joined by Kite, Eight, and Maru.

"Here we go." Zero said, lifting his chin slightly and changing his gait to a regular marching stride. The others fell automatically into a straight line behind him as they entered the area just in front of the stage and sat down in their assigned chairs.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to attend our senior class graduation ceremony today from the WBBA Space Academy. This year's class has shown themselves to be some of the best students we have ever had the pleasure of honoring with a graduation ceremony. Please enjoy the procession of graduates, after which we will announce starship assignments. Once the ceremony has ended, we hope you enjoy the refreshments laid out for you all in the main hall of the Academy. We request that you deactivate all communication devices, although recording of the ceremony is acceptable, as long as you ensure that you are not blocking the view of anybody behind you."

"This is going to be a long boring ceremony." Kite groaned quietly.

"It'll be over soon enough." Ren whispered. "We've worked for a few years to get here, the least we can do is enjoy it."

"I'll enjoy it when we get on a starship." Zero said.

Shinobu rolled his eyes. "Just pay attention, would you? The Director is about to speak."

All eyes turned back to the stage in front of them as a redheaded man stepped up to the podium.

"Please welcome Director Ryo Hagane of the WBBA Space Core." The man at the podium announced before stepping down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for attending today. Every year, I get the honor of-" Ryo was suddenly cut off as the stage beneath him exploded.

"Dad!" another redhead yelled, leaping from his seat and darting to the hole in the stage. Chaos broke out in the audience, most of which had already fled.

"Stay back, Gingka! I'll handle this!" a dark-skinned man exclaimed, jumping into the hole.

Gingka growled, but nodded and obeyed, stepping back from the edge of the hole. "Everyone stay calm." he called. The nearly-graduated cadets nodded at him, remaining in their seats, despite the tension created by the sudden attack.

"I need a unit here now!" Gingka called. Moments later, a practical army of WBBA Space Core agents flooded the room.

"Find the attackers!" Gingka ordered.

"Yes sir!" The agents replied in unison, spreading out.

Zero eyed the redhead curiously. He had met Gingka before, after the redhead had graduated at the top of his class the year before Zero and his friends had entered the Academy. Apparently the now-25-year-old had worked his way into some sort of command position over the last four years, considering that a squad of the WBBA elite had come in at his command, and that Commander Falcon had given him a direct order by name. All eyes were now on the gaping hole in the stage, the slightly nervous redhead pacing around the outside. Everyone was waiting for either the Director or Commander Falcon to reappear, but neither did.

"I need a search and rescue squad up here, now!" Gingka said after several minutes, before stepping over to the graduation announcer and telling him something. The man nodded and grabbed a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to the events that have just happened, the official ceremony has unfortunately been canceled. Graduating cadets can go to the main headquarters for their ship assignments and diplomas tomorrow morning. We request that you calmly and quietly exit the premises. Thank you."

"I hope the Director will be okay." Ren sighed as they exited the area.

Zero nodded. "They'll find whoever did this. The WBBA is good at that."

The others nodded in agreement.

* * *

The next morning, the group reported to the Space Corps Headquarters to get their ship assignments.

"Zero, wasn't it?"

"Huh?" Zero turned in surprise as Gingka stepped up next to him and the others.

"I don't forget faces easily." The redhead smiled. "I see you've graduated."

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for giving us that little push to get us in. Wouldn't have done it without you." Zero said, scratching the back of his head. "So, are you like, in charge of something now…? I saw you yesterday just, totally taking over control of everything!"

Gingka nodded slightly, a sad smile appearing on his face. "Yeah…"

"What's wrong?" Ren asked, tilting her head.

Gingka sighed. "I'm here to change my registered position… Commander Falcon was found… Dead… In the rubble yesterday… My dad's injured, but he'll be alright."

"That affects your position? How?" Shinobu asked.

"The Commander had sorta taken me under his wing… He was planning on retiring soon, and he needed to train his… Replacement… Now that he's gone, I'm being put in charge of his ship." Gingka sighed. "It's a huge responsibility, but Falcon apparently thought I was ready for it, and had already arranged for the switch to be made when he retired, which wasn't supposed to be for another couple of years, but…" the redhead shrugged. "Apparently it's happening early. I've gotta catch a shuttle as well. Lots of work to do, mostly peacekeeping."

"Well, good luck then." Zero said, extending his hand.

Gingka smiled and took it. "You too. Perhaps someday we'll meet among the stars. I believe you were all assigned to the _Infinity._"

Zero and the others grinned. "Awesome! Hey, isn't that the flagship?"

Gingka shook his head. "No. It's the second-highest ranked ship though. Congratulations and good luck."

"You too." Zero said.

Gingka smiled slightly, nodded, and turned to walk away.

"And… Commander…?" Zero said.

"Hmm?" Gingka turned, stiffening slightly at the sound of the title that was now his.

"Be careful. You know the saying… Beware the Eye of the Storm. It's dangerous, whatever it is."

Gingka nodded solemnly. "Same to you. Be careful out there. The universe is a big place and you never really know just what you'll encounter." he said quietly before turning and striding towards the landing pad outside.

"Think we'll ever see him again?" Kite asked.

"Who knows? Like he said, the universe is a big place." Zero sighed.

"Hey guys…" Eight grinned. "What if we found the Eye of the Storm and defeated it?"

"We'd be like, heroes." Zero said quietly, then grinned. "Let's try it!"

"Sounds good to me." Kite chuckled.

"But nobody's ever seen it and lived, to our knowledge." Ren said.

"I-I have…" A whisper came from the back of the group.

"Maru? You've seen it?!" the others gasped at the pink-haired girl, a mechanical child prodigy who had graduated with them, despite only being 14.

She nodded. "Several years ago… I was very young, but… The village I was living in at the time, no, the entire planet, was under heavy attack… My family was trying to escape our burning home… Then it came…"

The others leaned in slightly, the air around them seeming to thicken just at the mention of the enigma that seemed to plague the universe.

"The Eye of the Storm… I don't remember the details because I was so young, but… It was huge… It practically blocked out the sun, casting a shadow over everything. And it was black. Jet black, the darkest I've ever seen… It rained destruction on everything… Fire… Death." Maru sighed.

"And you survived?!" the others whispered in awe.

"I don't know how, but I did." Maru sighed. "I escaped the planet the next day on a WBBA refugee ship… But I saw it there too… Lurking in the darkness of space… Its eye gleaming in the light reflecting off the planet… Swirling… Almost hypnotic. It still plagues my nightmares to this day, even though that was twelve years ago…"

"What about your parents…?"

"There… Wasn't room for them on the ship…" Maru whispered. "They sent me on, saying they'd be with me again soon and that everything would be okay…"

"I'm sorry…" Zero whispered.

"It's alright." Maru sighed. "But I do know that the Eye is not something to be underestimated or… Dealt with lightly. I don't think we should go against it, at least not alone."

The others nodded.

"Last boarding call for crew members of the _Infinity_, please report to Shuttle Bay 2, heading for the Space Dock." a voice said over the intercom.

"Whoa, we'd better hurry!" Zero and the others ran for the named area.

"Landing bay clear. Starship Pegasus now departing." a voice said.

"There he goes." Zero said, turning and looking out the window as a small, sleek silver ship lifted off the ground, flew smoothly down the runway, and curved upwards into the sky.

"And there's our ride." Ren pointed out an archway with a glowing number two above it.

"Let's go!" Zero ran excitedly towards the doorway, scanning his ID tag on the scanner to open the door before he and his friends straightened and strode through. Only one thought was in their minds, as the four years of intensive training they had gone through ran through their minds on repeat.

At last… The years of waiting are over. After all of the training, all of the tests, we're actually here. We're about to go into space, most of us for the first time. Anything could happen. We're setting off to see new worlds, the stars, and maybe… To defeat the Eye of the Storm itself. Whatever it is, it had better watch out, because the crew members of the Infinity are going to take it down.


	2. Departure

**Yatta! I'm finally able to update! FF wouldn't let me on all morning. -pouts- Anyway, it's late due to reasons not under my control, but here is the second chapter of Eye of the Storm! Enjoy!**

* * *

Sunlight glittered. It glittered off of sharp metal edges and reflected off of the clouds below. Stars glittered in the distance, their light adding to that of the sun and making everything glow. Just ahead, a large round metal space station floated in a steady orbit, various arms spiking off of it and connecting to a large number of smooth, sleek, silvery ships.

"Whoa!"

"That's amazing!"

Zero's group could barely contain their excitement as they stared out the shuttle windows at the ships glimmering outside.

"Which one's the Infinity?" Ren asked.

"Dunno, but we'll be docking close to it." Kite said.

"There!" Maru exclaimed, pointing at a ship as they passed close beside it. The word Infinity was painted in bold, black letters along the bottom edge of the ship's shining outer hull. Just above the name of the ship was the logo of the WBBA, in bright red and black. The bridge towered above the outer hull, sloping upwards in a graceful curve.

"Now docking at starship Infinity. Good luck, cadets." The pilot said as he landed in the wide open hangar bay of the ship.

"This still feels so weird. I can't believe that we're actually here!" Zero exclaimed as he and his friends stepped off the shuttle and found themselves standing, actually standing, inside a WBBA starship.

"None of the simulations we went through felt like this." Shinobu commented, looking around the busy area in awe.

"All new cadets please report to the bridge, repeat, all new cadets please report to the bridge." a voice said over the loudspeaker. "All crew members prepare for departure of the Infinity in approximately one hour."

"Off we go then. Probably an orientation." Kite said, leading the way towards one of the lifts nearby.

"Welcome, cadets. Please, have a seat. I am Captain Tsubasa Ootori of the Infinity. It is a pleasure to have you on board." A man with silver hair said. "Over the last few years, this ship has gained an entirely new crew. I myself have only been here for five years as Captain, and now you six are replacing the last group to retire from duty. Your positions will be mainly on the bridge with me, as you were all at the top of your class."

The group gasped. Tsubasa chuckled a bit at the surprised looks on their faces.

"You were trained for bridge positions, were you not?"

"Y-yes sir." Shinobu said.

"Good. Then you will all take the position you were assigned and prepare for launch."

"Yes sir!" the entire group exclaimed, getting up and moving into position as Tsubasa sat down in the captain's chair.

"This is Captain Ootori. Everyone prepare for departure." The silver-haired man said, then leaned back with a contented sigh. "We leave in a half hour. I suggest you all get your things to your quarters. They'll be down in the hangar bay and your keycards are by the door. Do not lose those cards, as they are your access to everything. Be back here ten minutes before launch."

"Yes sir, thank you sir!" Zero and the others replied in unison before picking up their cards and leaving.

"I didn't think we'd be in a command position!" Ren exclaimed.

"I know, right?! This is crazy…" Shinobu muttered.

"Crazy awesome!" Zero whooped. Eight and Maru laughed as the group continued walking down the hallway towards the lift.

"Welcome back, sir. The Eye awaits your command."

"Good. You heard of the attack on the WBBA graduation ceremony, correct?"

"Yes, of course."

"Good. We move in two hours. Have everyone ready."

"Yes sir."

"You wanted to see me, Commander?"

"Yes. We have gotten a report from the agents who were at the graduation ceremony, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"And?"

"The explosion failed to kill the commander."

The shadowed figure froze. "He's alive?"

"Yes sir."

"Then where is he?"

"We don't know sir. He escaped."

A sigh came from the shadowed figure. "Find him."

"Yes sir."

"He must pay… The traitor." a black gloved hand clenched tightly into a fist as the owner of said hand stared out the window in front of him at the nebulous matter around them. It shifted constantly, almost violently.

"A great hiding place, really." the commander chuckled. "Beautiful in your own way… Yet dangerous enough that nobody will really dare venture inside, nobody but us, that is. Nobody in their right mind would try to navigate a galactic storm such as this, and, if they knew what was lurking here, they wouldn't dare even come close. It's time to move... To conquer… Nothing will stand in the way of the Eye. All will fall... " A slight smirk appeared on his face as he looked slightly down and to his right, looking at the spiraling, almost sparkling eye that had so quickly become so feared. It gleamed in the small amount of light from its surroundings, surrounded by jet-black shadows.

" So this is what power feels like… The ability to destroy a planet, right in my hands... It's definitely a huge responsibility." the commander sighed deeply, then turned, his black boots clanking against the deck he stood on as he strode to a nearby, high-backed black chair and sat down.

"Prepare for departure. The Eye of the Storm has remained here for too long."

"Yes sir!" A chorus of voices replied in unison before a low rumbling noise filled the air, shaking the ground beneath them slightly.

"All crew members of the Infinity prepare for departure. Repeat, prepare for departure."

"You guys ready?" Tsubasa turned slightly in his chair to look at the group of young adults standing in position behind him.

Zero nodded slightly, feeling already nervous at the position he had been sort of thrust into.

"Let's begin then." Tsubasa leaned back in his chair. "Primary engines?"

"Online." Ren reported, pressing a button.

"Thrusters?"

"Clear." Shinobu said.

"Ship environment?"

"Steady and holding. Sealed off from the dock now." Kite said, adjusting his glasses.

"Ease us away, Zero."

"Yes sir." Zero nodded and slowly slid his fingers across the screen in front of him, feeling his heart skip a beat slightly as he felt the ship begin to move.

"A little more push on the starboard thrusters, Shinobu. We need to be clear in five minutes so that the dock can continue in its orbit." Tsubasa said.

Shinobu nodded and slid his fingers up his screen.

"Careful with that navigation, Zero. There's another ship directly in front of us. You have to give it at least five hundred meters of space so that it can dock."

"Yes sir." Zero said, trembling ever so slightly as he continued to move the Infinity away from the spacedock.

"Almost clear." Eight reported from his position.

"Shinobu you may now fire up the rear thrusters." Tsubasa said. "Fire the front starboard ones at full capacity and turn us outward."

"Yes sir." Shinobu said calmly, tapping the required areas on his screen before nodding at Zero, who took a deep breath and grabbed the control stick next to him.

"Easy now." Tsubasa said.

"No different than training, Zero." Ren said quietly, watching her screen carefully.

"We'll be clear in a few moments." Eight said.

"Good job guys." Tsubasa smiled.

"Starship Infinity, you are clear. Good luck. Command Central over and out."

"Thank you, Command Central." Tsubasa said. "Kite, plot a course for Pluto. We're going to start there."

"Start what there?" Maru asked.

"Looking." Tsubasa said.

"Huh? Looking for what?" Eight asked, watching Kite as the brunette charted their course.

"I'll tell you once we're underway." Tsubasa said.

"Course set, Captain." Kite reported.

"Good. Ren, allow the engines to go to full capacity."

"Yes sir." Ren nodded and slid a bar on her screen to the full setting.

"Kite, don't allow the thrusters to reach full capacity just yet."

Kite nodded.

"Zero, switch to autopilot."

"Done."

"Release the thrusters, Kite. Everyone brace yourselves." Tsubasa grinned.

Kite raised an eyebrow and did as he was told. The entire group yelped as they were nearly thrown to the ground as the Infinity lurched forwards, the pinpoints of starlight elongating until they were blurred streaks.

"We'll arrive at Pluto in three hours." Tsubasa said.

"What are we going to do there?" Ren asked.

"Begin our search."

"Our search for what?"

Tsubasa turned, grinning. "The Eye, of course."

The eyes of the others nearly popped out of their heads.

"What?!"

"But that's dangerous!"

"Aren't we not supposed to go after myths?"

"There's a substance behind the myth, if it is a myth. We do not have any official mission other than exploration and responding to any distress calls that come our way. Therefore, we are going to find out what this is and if there's any basis to the fear that everyone holds for it."

The group fell silent. Sure, they had wanted to look for the Eye, to find out what it was and perhaps take it down, but now that they were presented with the fact that they were going to do just that, they weren't so sure. Wishful thinking had suddenly become reality without warning, and Zero and his friends weren't sure they were ready.

"Well then, let's go!" Eight broke the silence.

"That's more like it." Tsubasa chuckled.

"Why start at Pluto?" Zero asked.

"It's the closest place that we know of that the Eye showed up at recently." Tsubasa replied, tapping on a screen and bringing up a galactic map on the window in front of them.

"Areas marked in red are areas that have reported being attacked by the Eye in the last ten years. Pluto was the first in that time frame to be attacked, but it's been attacked twice since then as well. We're starting there because they're the closest and they'll also have more information than the other places, which have only been attacked once each."

"My home planet…" Maru whispered, staring at a planet on the screen. "It's been attacked recently as well…"

"Hmm?" Tsubasa raised an eyebrow at the pink-haired girl.

"Maru's seen it…" Zero whispered. "She saw the Eye…"

"Care to tell us about it?" Tsubasa asked.

"I was only two.. But it was all shadows and blackness… Fire and death… The devastation was everywhere once it had passed… I saw it lurking in the shadow of the planet as the refugee ship I was on when I left, but I don't remember anything more than that eye…"

"What eye?"

"The Eye has an eye?" Kite blinked.

"Yeah, big surprise there. Were you paying any attention earlier when she told us about this?" Shinobu rolled his eyes.

"What did it look like?" Tsubasa asked.

"Just… A spiral… A regular eye shape, but a sort of starry stripe spiraling out of the center of it… It was frightening to see, to know that the Eye was so close… Especially since I was only about two years old at the time, and my parents were… Gone… I'm not sure what happened to them…"

"I'm sorry… But thank you for telling us that information. Now we have a partial description of it." Tsubasa said.

Maru nodded. "No problem…"

"Where are we going after Pluto?" Ren asked.

"Hmm…" Tsubasa looked at a map. "How about Clomb?"

"Aren't there some… Rather… Uhh… Not nice aliens there?" Kite asked.

"We'll avoid them." Tsubasa said. "There's also a WBBA outpost there, and we'll probably only go there."

"Alright."

Excitement began to rise in the hearts of the group as every second carried them closer and closer to Pluto. Every minute carried them closer to finding out what the Eye was. Every hour brought them closer to discovering the truth.

"The Eye is still moving smoothly, as usual…"

"Sir, the sensors have picked up something."

"What?"

"A small ship. Enemy origin."

"Activate our cloaking device."

"Done, sir."

"Good. Prepare for potential battle. Shields up. Perhaps it's time that another enemy fell prey to the Eye."

"Yes sir."

"Eye of the Storm, this is the commander… Attack."

A low rumbling noise, followed by a sudden burst of destructive power, was the last thing the enemy ship ever knew.


	3. Pluto

**Welcome back, everyone! In this chapter I have for you... SUSPENSE. Followed by your friendly neighborhood idiot-ness. **

**Gingka:-blinks- That made absolutely no sense.**

**Me: Shut up, I'm trying to be cryptic here. Anyway, enjoy! I don't own anything but the plotline for this story and the Eye. I also have a cool coffee cup. I don't know why I said that. Anyway, this chapter... Starts off with the Eye. **

* * *

"That ship didn't last long."

"Well, it's not like we gave them any more warning than we give anyone else. The Eye fights that way. Appears, strikes, then disappears again. That's protocol. That was the agreement made when it first appeared."

"We did set off some alarms though. The WBBA base on Pluto will have heard that we were there by now, even though that ship was an enemy to them as well. Likely, it was moving to attack them."

"Well, whatever it was doing doesn't matter now. It's been destroyed."

"Yeah. Let that serve as a warning to anyone who gets too close to us." Blue eyes gleamed in the dim light emitted from the still-burning enemy ship as the Eye's commander stood and moved to the large window in front of him. Burning fragments of metal drifted through the darkness around them.

"Move out. They did send off a distress signal just before we destroyed them. It's best that we leave this scene to speak for itself."

"Yes sir!"

The commander turned, black boots clanking against the floor panels once again as the long fabric of his coat swirled behind him. One black-gloved hand rested on the rail of the stairs as he stepped down and off the bridge, striding for the closed doors at the back of the room. The others on the bridge watched as the black silhouette disappeared before turning back to their controls and ordered the Eye to move elsewhere.

"It's so pretty!" Ren and Maru exclaimed, staring out the front window of the Infinity as the stars seemed to fly past them.

"Lightspeed always is." Tsubasa commented with a smile. "Better get ready though, we're almost-whoa! Pull out of lightspeed, now!"

Zero and the others instantly reacted, a slight jolt marking the exit from lightspeed as the streaks of starlight faded back to pinpoints, jagged pieces of metal with glowing red-orange edges becoming visible.

"What happened here…?" Zero breathed, awestruck at the scene in front of him.

"A battle… Recent. The metal of whatever ship that got destroyed still hasn't cooled." Tsubasa said.

Maru scanned the wreckage. "Definitely recent. Traces of plasma… Electricity… Regular laser blasts, but higher power than anything I've ever heard of. Parts of it look like they were chewed on by a giant dog or some other sort of animal… All sorts of high-tech weaponry that… Shouldn't exist, it seems…"

"I've heard of this work before…" Tsubasa whistled. "But I've never seen it, and I don't think anyone has this recently…"

"Huh?" The others looked at their captain, who was staring in awe at the wreckage surrounding them.

"It was an A-class Raxacoricofallapatorian ship. Not an easy thing to destroy. And it's only been in pieces for about… Twenty minutes." Maru whispered.

Tsubasa gasped sharply. "It could still be around… Twenty minutes isn't that long."

"Huh?" Everyone looked nervous.

"Guys… We're looking at a wreckage that could have only been caused by the Eye of the Storm. With an estimated time of only twenty minutes, it's likely still nearby. Ren, full scan of our surroundings, now."

"On it." Ren stammered, pressing a few buttons quickly. The entire group waited tensely as the scan progressed.

"Traces of an unknown substance leading in a trail away from us at six-o'clock. Tons of it around… Probably traces from an engine. Nothing else." Ren said nervously.

"Then… It's gone?" Eight asked, putting an arm around a trembling Maru.

"Could be… But it can appear out of practically nowhere if it wishes. Until we know more about it, we'd better stay away." Tsubasa said. "Steer us out of this debris and then continue on at full speed towards Pluto."

"Captain…" Ren whispered in fright.

"Yes…?" Tsubasa replied.

"New traces of that substance just… Appeared. Out of nowhere…"

"What position?" Tsubasa clenched a fist.

"R-right to our starboard side… Only about a hundred feet away." Ren whispered.

"Red alert!" Tsubasa yelped. "Get us out of here, now!"

"Captain Ootori of the Infinity, correct?" a voice came through the communication systems.

"Who's there?" Tsubasa snapped.

"Geez, calm down Tsubasa! It's just me!"

"Just who?!"

"Oh, right. Cloaking device. Hang on." the voice chuckled.

"Something just appeared on our starboard side. It's right where that substance just appeared." Ren reported, trembling.

"It's small." Eight commented, looking at the screen. "Starfighter sized."

"Well, duh. Mind if I land in your hangar? It's been a while."

"Not unless you tell us who you are first."

A slight pause came before the person on the other end of the line laughed. "Sorry, I assumed you'd just know. It's Gingka."

"Oh! My apologies, Commander. Please, come aboard. We, uh… Thought you were the Eye." Tsubasa said, nodding to Maru, who opened the hangar bay with a sigh of relief.

Gingka laughed. "Nope, just me. Just me and the Pegasus. I'll see you on the bridge?"

"Sure." Tsubasa sighed. "Tell me as soon as you're landed."

"I am landed now. Go ahead and close the doors, then take off as I'm assuming you were planning on doing."

"What about your ship?"

"Ehh, I'll call it to pick me up if I need it. I actually left it a while ago to come here and check this out."

"You found out about it too, huh? Did you see anything else?"

"Other than the trails of vapor leading away from the site and what's before your eyes, no."

"Alright. Well, see you in a couple of minutes then. We'll be heading to Pluto."

"Sounds good." Gingka said before cutting the connection as Ren closed the hangar doors.

"Arrival at Pluto in about thirty minutes." Zero reported.

Tsubasa nodded as they jumped back into lightspeed, the entire group breathing a sigh of relief.

"So… It was just the Commander?" Eight said.

"Apparently." Tsubasa sighed, turning to look out the window.

"We've arrived at Pluto." Zero reported a half-hour later, just as Gingka stepped out of the lift and onto the bridge.

"Should I have met you halfway down or stayed in the hangar bay?" Gingka chuckled.

"Nah. We'll be up here for a while longer." Tsubasa said. "Might as well hang out here. Long time no see! How's it going?"

"Ehh, the usual command sort of stuff, I suppose. Not too much different except that I'm giving the orders rather than watching Falcon give them."

"Of course." Tsubasa chuckled.

Gingka leaned casually against the wall near the lift doors. "So, what have you guys been up to in the last… What, five hours since I saw you?"

Zero shrugged. "Not much other than what you saw."

"We're going to research the Eye." Kite said, his glasses gleaming slightly in the light.

The smile on Gingka's face faded, quickly being replaced with a serious look. "You're what?"

"More accurately, find out what it is and take it down, probably, if we can."

Gingka frowned slightly.

"Something wrong?" Tsubasa asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"No, just… Was this an assignment given to you?" Gingka raised an eyebrow.

"Nah. We were just told to explore basically, so we figured we may as well explore the Eye and it's abilities."

"I see." Gingka sighed. "Well… I won't stop you, but be careful. It's definitely dangerous."

"Well, we know that. We won't try to engage unless we have to or are absolutely sure we can defeat it." Tsubasa said.

Gingka nodded silently. "Good. I may as well say that I think you shouldn't go after it at all, but you won't listen, will you?"

"Nope." Tsubasa chuckled.

Gingka shook his head in amusement. "You'd better be careful."

"We will, don't worry." Tsubasa chuckled. "Now, shall we head down to the planet surface and see what we can find?"

"Mind if I tag along?" Gingka asked.

"Like you have to ask." Tsubasa snorted, turning to the others.

"Make sure you get on the heaviest level of winter gear you can find. Pluto's a cold planet, even inside the base where we'll be landing. Without proper protection, you could die in minutes. I'll see you all down in the hangar bay in an hour."

"Yes sir!" The group saluted and strode off.

"They seem to be doing well, for a first-time group." Gingka commented. "Especially for being thrust directly onto the bridge."

Tsubasa nodded. "Yes. They know what they're doing, at least, which is all that I need right now. It remains to be seen whether or not they can fight, but hopefully we won't have to find that out too soon."

Gingka nodded. "Just be careful and don't rush into anything, not that I need to tell you that."

"I'm more surprised that you're the one telling me, considering your personality." Tsubasa raised an eyebrow at the redhead.

Gingka looked sheepish. "Hey, I've got an experienced crew and the flagship. I can afford to be a bit more reckless."

Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "Well then, I'll just wait for the day that I have to come and pick you up after your recklessness gets you in trouble."

"Never gonna happen." Gingka grinned, giving Tsubasa a thumbs up. "I've been training for this for over ten years. I can handle it."

"We've been training for about the same amount of time, Gingka." Tsubasa rolled his eyes as he stood and moved towards the door.

"And yet I'm the commander here." Gingka chuckled.

"You had a push from your dad." Tsubasa grunted.

"True, true." Gingka chuckled. "But you had a bit of an early start too."

"True." Tsubasa grinned at his friend. "Shall we go explore Pluto then?"

"You're on!" Gingka laughed as the two stepped into the elevator.

"It's so cold!" Ren exclaimed as the group stepped out of the relative warmth of the shuttle an hour later, finding themselves standing inside a WBBA outpost.

"Yeah, but guys… We're literally standing on another planet!" Zero exclaimed.

"Maru's the only one who's been on more than one planet!" Eight said.

"Feels kinda weird at first, doesn't it?" Gingka chuckled as he stepped past them. The few workers who were around snapping to attention, remaining there until Gingka raised a hand, signaling them to return to their work.

"Yeah.. .So weird." Shinobu commented, staring at the ground under his feet as if he thought it would eat him at any moment.

"You'll get used to it." Tsubasa said as Gingka walked off.

"Isn't he cold?" Maru asked, noting that the redhead was not wearing nearly as much clothing as the rest of them were.

"He should be…" Tsubasa shrugged. "Apparently not too much though. I brought an extra snow suit, just in case. Come on, let's go."

The group followed Tsubasa and Gingka towards the command room of the outpost.

"Welcome, Commander, Captain. What brings you here?" The captain of the outpost, a man with long black hair and questionable sanity said.

"Captain Watarigani. We'd like to speak with your crew members, if you don't mind us distracting them from working for a few minutes or so each." Gingka said before Tsubasa could reply.

"No, no, go ahead, crab! Just don't let them slack off for too long." Tetsuya replied, waving his finger. "They must get their work done if we're going to remain on schedule!"

"Of course." Gingka turned and lead the way back out of the control room, leaving Tetsuya to babble about crabs and work.

"What's up with him…?" Zero asked once they were out of earshot.

"It's always preferable to be as short and to the point as possible when talking to Tetsuya. Otherwise the dude gets into your head and distracts you into talking for hours about the randomest things." Gingka chuckled.

"You sound like you know that from experience." Tsubasa raised an eyebrow.

"Unfortunately, yes." Gingka shook his head, looking amused. "Once. I've learned from that one though and I'm not making the same mistake again."

Tsubasa chuckled. The others looked amused.

"Anyway, off to gathering information. Find the person who's been working here the longest other than Tetsuya, and ask him about the Eye. There should still be some people around who were here when it attacked, although many of them quit after it did each time." Tsubasa said.

"Good luck. I'm going to just sorta explore around here. Last time I was here Falcon had me in strong check to make sure I didn't wander off." Gingka grinned before disappearing into another room.

"Always so reckless, that one." Tsubasa chuckled. "Come on, we'll start in the hangar bay." the silver-haired man turned and lead the way back down the hallway.

"Airlock one opening." The computer reported suddenly. Tsubasa froze, then whirled and bolted back for the room Gingka had gone into.

"Huh?" Zero and the others followed. "What's wrong?"

"That idiot! He went outside!"

"In what he was wearing?!" Zero yelped, remembering that the redhead had been in the typical commander's uniform that he had been wearing on Earth before they left.

"Airlock two opening."

"That uniform isn't even warm enough for inside the base, not to mention outside! He'd need a full spacesuit!" Tsubasa growled. "The atmosphere here can't support human life! He'd suffocate and freeze to death at the same time!"

"Excuse me, I'd what?" Gingka poked his head out of a doorway behind them and grinned mischievously. The group froze, Tsubasa with his hand already on the controls of the room Gingka had originally disappeared into.

"You idiot." Tsubasa growled.

Gingka chuckled. "What, mad that I decided to take a quick jog outside between airlocks one and two?"

"There's no way you should have not died the moment you opened airlock one. How did you do that?" Kite asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Gingka sounded as if he were on the verge of sticking his tongue out at them. However, the redhead merely kept his mischievous grin. Half of the group, including Tsubasa, animefell.

"Yes!" They exclaimed..

"Well, too bad. I'm not going to tell you." Gingka snorted before ducking back into the room.

"Airlock two opening."

"Again?!"


	4. Search

**Me back! A day early, but that's because I'll be on a trip tomorrow and won't have internet access. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"I was out checking our perimeter sensors… I saw in the distance a band of the native Plutonians roaming across the glacier. They didn't seem to be approaching, so I ignored them and continued with my work until I heard a strange sound coming from the sky. It was sort of a mixture between a rumble and a… a roar, I suppose. I couldn't tell if it was mechanical or animal. Our sensors hadn't picked up anything coming from above, but suddenly, there it was. It blocked out the tiny amount of sunlight there was, and I swear that it got several degrees colder almost instantly… but only for a few seconds. The next instant, blazing heat seared through the sky, red and blue and golden flames firing from who-knows where. It was too dark to see anything but blackness overhead. Several of our buildings were caught in the fire and burned to a crisp in milliseconds. The only thing I could see was that glittering spiral of an eye."

"Oh yeah, I saw it. Seems as if everyone here saw it the last time it attacked, well, those who stayed afterwards. This base is camouflaged, and somehow it's been missed, but I bet it's only a matter of time until that eye spots it."

"The Eye of the Storm? I've heard of it. Luckily I've never seen it, but I've heard that its eye gives people nightmares for years afterwards."

"We already knew all of that." Tsubasa sighed as the group got back together to report their findings.

"Spiraling eye… Never blinking… Fire and destruction… We haven't learned anything by coming here!" Maru exclaimed in frustration.

"We have, actually." Ren pointed out.

"We've learned that Gingka's an idiot." Eight sweatdropped as he watched the redhead, who was swinging casually from one of the roof rafters like he hadn't a care in the world.

Zero snorted. Ren facepalmed. "That's not what I meant!"

Tsubasa chuckled under his breath.

"Are you guys talking about me?" Gingka called, swinging and letting go of the rafter before doing a flip and landing heavily next to them.

"Nope."

"Not at all."

"You're an idiot."

"Eight!" Kite clamped a hand over his brother's mouth, laughing awkwardly at Gingka, who had crossed his arms and gained a serious look.

"Would you rather I be boring?" he asked, a flash of mischief behind his eyes as he spoke.

The others blinked in silence, thinking hard.

"Uh… No?" Zero said after a few moments.

"Good choice." Gingka grinned. "I'll just be outside if you need me."

Before any of the others could protest or stop him, Gingka had stepped through an airlock and outside.

"Definitely an idiot." Eight said, earning himself a stern smack on the head from Kite.

"Let's keep asking until we've asked everyone here for what information they know." Tsubasa sighed.

The group nodded and split up once more.

Gingka, meanwhile, was calmly walking through the snow and ice, across the glacier towards a high ridge that had several craters on it.

"So… This is the result of that attack, hmm?" the redhead muttered to himself, looking through the lenses of the helmet he was now wearing. "It's… A bit more than I thought it would be." He narrowed his eyes at the sight of several objects attached to the ridge. "Are those…?"

* * *

"Well, that went well." Tsubasa sighed.

"We still don't know anything more than we did before… Except that it's fast." Zero said.

"Which we kinda already knew." Kite pointed out.

Zero paused. "True…"

"Is the Commander still outside?" Ren asked.

"Suppose so. Still no clue how he didn't freeze to death." Maru said.

Tsubasa pulled a communicator out of his pocket and turned it on. "Captain Otori to Commander Hagane. We're ready to return to the Infinity, over."

The group waited silently for a few minutes before Tsubasa repeated the message.

"Commander, please respond." Tsubasa said. After a few more minutes of silence, he sighed. "We're going to need a search party to find him. Hopefully he's alright."

Zero nodded. "I'll get the snowsuits from the shuttle."

Tsubasa nodded. "Hurry. Time's of the essence if he's freezing to death. It's probably already been too long. We don't want to lose two commanders in two days."

The others nodded and quickly ran for their suits. Within minutes, they were all suited up, helmets sealed. A search party had gathered around the airlock.

"You all know who we're looking for. Time is of the essence here. Once you've found him, signal the others and get him back here immediately." Tsubasa said.

"Yes sir!" the group saluted before heading out, Tsubasa and the crew of the Infinity being the last to exit.

"Even with these on it's still cold." Zero commented as they walked out into the growing darkness.

"Sun's setting. It's about to get a whole lot colder for a long time." Tsubasa said. "We'd better hurry. I'll take the north. You guys head south."

"Yes sir!" The group split up.

"Anyone else find it a bit weird how friendly Captain Ootori and Commander Hagane are?" Eight asked casually as the group began searching.

"Yeah. They have such high ranks, but… They don't mind socializing with us, even though we're rookies and way below their rank." Ren said.

"We're only a little bit below the Captain, since we're on the bridge with him." Shinobu pointed out.

"True, but still. I'd think that most captains would mostly talk and be friendly with other captains, not their crew members of any rank." Zero said.

"Yeah. Guess our captain is just different." Maru said.

"Kinda nice that he is." Eight sighed.

The others nodded.

"Anyway, we'd better pay attention. We're trying to find the commander and we have to watch out for the ice aliens." Kite said.

"Yeah."

* * *

Tsubasa sighed in worry as he looked around.

Where are you, Gingka?

Darkness was spreading rapidly as the sun slipped over the horizon and out of sight. The last rays turned the icy horizon into a glittering pile of jewels that soon faded and became dark, ominous shapes. Tsubasa sighed as everything went entirely black. Everything, that is, except for two tiny pinpoints of blue light in the distance.

Tsubasa glanced quickly around as his in-suit sensors picked up the presence of several crunching sounds that sounded like footsteps. However, he could see nobody, even with his night vision goggles. However, he could see footprints appearing in the snow around him.

Cloaked! The thought entered Tsubasa's mind as he looked around quickly, trying to stay calm. However, he found that he was surrounded. In the process of turning and examining all of the snow around him, he had managed to lose track of which direction the WBBA outpost was. The silver-haired man growled under his breath, trying to figure out which way to go. His eyes fixed on the pinpoints of light in the distance just as he felt hands trying to grab him.

Tsubasa quickly broke free of the grasp of whatever was after him, bolting towards the lights in the distance and hoping that they were from the WBBA outpost. He could hear footsteps crunching the snow and ice behind him as he was pursued. The blue lights he had been focusing on suddenly went out, but Tsubasa kept running. As he looked behind him, he noticed several of the native Plutonians giving chase.

"This is Captain Ootori, I'm being chased by something cloaked and a few Plutonians. Requesting backup. Over."

Tsubasa panted as he continued to run. He suddenly skidded to a stop, finding himself at the edge of the ridge that had been melted in the attacks he had heard about. A quick glance behind him revealed the Plutonians still in pursuit, although they had now been joined by several figures clad in all black suits. Tsubasa could only assume that they were the ones who had caused the footprints earlier.

"What do you want?" Tsubasa asked, turning to face them.

Nobody replied, but the black-clad figures raised laser blasters and pointed them at him.

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes, reaching slowly for his own gun.

"Don't move." the figures said. "We'll shoot if you do."

Tsubasa froze, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want?" He repeated.

"We-" the enemy spoke, but was cut off by an explosion as the part of the ridge Tsubasa was standing on collapsed right out from underneath him.

"Good evening, Captain Ootori." A deep, distorted voice said. Tsubasa glanced over as he fell, spotting brilliant blue eyes… And a spiraling shape that, although he had never seen it, was all too familiar. Blackness was the next thing that the Captain of the Infinity knew.

* * *

"What in the world is that?!" Ren yelped, pointing at an explosion on the side of the ridge that collapsed it.

"Let's go!" Zero took off running for the falling debris.

A few more explosions collapsed more sections of the ridge, as several of the figures standing on it scattered. A burst of flame rose high into the air out of the center of the explosions. Zero and his friends froze and stared in shock and awe as the streak continued on, zigzagging across the black sky and occasionally sending off smaller bursts of flame to the side. Electricity crackled to the ground every once in a while as well, as small bursts of laser fire struck down the fleeing figures that had survived the ridge collapsing.

"Run!" Tsubasa's voice came, as he ran towards the group. They all bolted back towards the relative safety of the WBBA outpost, fleeing from the destruction behind them.

"Was that the Eye?" Ren panted as they finally got back inside.

"That was too small… Right?" Zero said.

"It was… Way too small… But it had that same firepower." one of the workers panted.

Kite sighed as he took off his helmet. "And we still didn't find the Commander…"

"I don't think he could have survived this long.. Not with that attack out there." Eight brooded.

"What do we do?" Maru asked.

"We head back to the Infinity." Tsubasa said calmly.

"But the commander-"

"Has a way off if he's still here and the outpost can take care of it. We leave. Now." Tsubasa said coldly.

The others sighed and headed for the shuttle.

"So much for friendliness…" Eight muttered.

"He's probably just worried about the Commander. We have a duty to fulfill." Zero said.

"Yeah." Kite nodded as they boarded the shuttle, which soon took off.

"Set a course to Clomb." Tsubasa said.

"Course set."

"Take us out."

Zero nodded silently and did so, watching as Pluto slipped out of the window before the stars elongated into lines and the Infinity took off once again.

* * *

"What in the world happened…?" snow was moving in the darkness for a few moments before a familiar figure popped up. Gingka put a hand to his forehead.

"Geez, I don't even remember anything after that fire… Ah well. Better get back to the outpost and let them know that I'm alright… Oh look, I'm running low on oxygen." the redhead sighed and began walking, shaking out the stiffness in his limbs as he did so. Upon returning to the outpost, however, he found that the Infinity had left at least an hour before.

"Strange… You'd think they'd wait for me." Gingka sighed and climbed into the cockpit of his starfighter.

"Alright, shall we trace them or the flagship?" Gingka mused as he took off. The redhead pressed a few buttons, bringing up a communication link.

"There you are, Commander. Having fun away from duty?"

Gingka rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Kyoya."

"You shut up." Kyoya shot back.

"Just wondering if I'm needed there. I'm sorta following a spaceship full of new cadets and it's interesting. Takes me back a bit and we haven't had much to do recently."

Kyoya frowned as if looking at something. "I don't think we'll need you… But you still have a duty."

"It's probably better if we search separately for him... " Gingka sighed. "We will find out who was behind that attack, and why. We'll find what they want, everything. We'll find out why and how Falcon managed to survive without us knowing at first."

Kyoya nodded. "Alright. Good luck on your own search then. And don't worry about your dad. He'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know." Gingka smiled slightly. "I try not to worry. Helps if I just throw all of my focus into the search."

"Good plan. Well, we seem to have arrived at our next destination, so I'll have to go now."

"Alright. Oh, and Kyoya... "

"Yes?"

"The Infinity is looking for the Eye."

"Are they now?" Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I told them I wasn't going to give them a direct order to not do it."

"They're crazier than you are."

Gingka chuckled. "Perhaps. Over and out."

"Over and out." Kyoya replied.


	5. Falcon

**I'm back! Few hours later than usual, but that's because I didn't have the chapter finished. Enjoy! Plenty of new stuff introduced in this chapter, so have fun with that!**

* * *

"Now arriving at Clomb, Captain."

"Good. Prepare for departure in an hour. I want everyone in the landing bay at 0200 sharp." Tsubasa replied, turning and disappearing into his quarters.

"Captain, will we need space suits?" Ren asked.

"No." Tsubasa replied shortly before closing the door behind him.

"Wonder what happened out there?" Eight sighed as he headed for the elevator.

"Maybe… Maybe he found the Commander and doesn't want to tell us because something bad happened?" Maru's voice trembled as she spoke.

"Maybe… But I hope not." Kite sighed.

"Let's just not worry about it. We've got a job to do, after all." Zero said.

"Right." Ren stepped into the elevator, when suddenly, a beep came from her station, indicating an incoming communication link. The blonde ran back to her station, blinking in surprise as she saw who was contacting them.

"It's, uhh… The Pegasus." she said.

The others blinked in surprise before running over as Ren activated the communication link.

"What, you're not even going to tell me where you're going before just taking off, not even noticing that I'm half-buried in snow?" Gingka tilted his head slightly with a mischievous smirk.

"HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU STILL BREATHING?!" Zero and the others practically exploded.

Gingka winced and twisted one finger in his ear. "Geez, I'm in an enclosed space here! Tone it down!"

"Sorry…" the group looked sheepish.

"But seriously, you didn't have a helmet on or even snow gear when you went outside, and… You were out there for a while. How in the world are you still… Even slightly okay?" Zero asked.

The mischievous look in Gingka's eyes brightened slightly. "Well now, isn't that a mystery?"

The entire group animefell. "That's why we asked!"

Gingka laughed. "I actually do have a full spacesuit on at all times."

"What?! How in the world-?!"

The surprised exclamations of the group only made Gingka laugh harder, as he nearly doubled over.

"H-holograms…" The redhead managed to say in between laughs.

"What's going on out here?" Tsubasa asked as he came back out onto the bridge.

"Hey Tsubasa. Sorry if I gave you guys a scare." Gingka waved, suddenly managing to contain his laughter.

"Oh, Commander. No, it's alright. I don't mean to be rude, but we do have to be on the planet by 0300, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut your conversation here short."

Gingka frowned. "Alright. I understand. I'll meet you down there then."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I can handle the situation well enough."

Gingka narrowed his eyes slightly in thought. "Very well then. I'll just go and return to my ship. Good luck."

"Thank you, Commander." Tsubasa replied before abruptly cutting off the connection. "Begin preparations. We leave as soon as possible."

"Yes sir." the others replied.

Gingka leaned back in his chair, frowning and pressing his fingertips together.

"Tamashii?" he said.

"Yes, Commander?" the computer replied with a feminine voice.

"Tracking screen, up now, on my left."

"Confirmed." a screen to Gingka's left lit up.

"Track Captain Tsubasa Ootori, codename Eagle."

"Tracking."

"I thought so." Gingka frowned as the results appeared.

"There he goes." Ren pointed as the sleek, silver and blue starfighter disappeared with a loud boom, going into lightspeed in an instant.

"Wonder where he's going." Zero sighed. "Wish he'd stay… Wonder what happened to the Captain…"

"Doesn't matter. Let's get going." Kite said, entering the lift and heading down to his room.

* * *

"Everything is moving smoothly then?"

"Yes, Master. Our operatives are almost all where they need to be for this to work."

"Good. The last operative awaits on Clomb, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent. Then we are almost ready to do what needs to be done."

"We will take down anything that stands in our way."

"What about the Eye, sir?"

"Well, that is our main objective, of course. And we are almost ready to take the Eye of the Storm by storm."

Evil grins flashed. "Of course, sir."

"Attention, all crew members of the starship Nemesis. We are nearing our ultimate victory. If all goes according to plan, and it will, we will have control of the WBBA Space Core by the end of the week. Not only that, we will also control the Eye of the Storm. Our preparations are almost ready. Everyone is to be ready to depart by 0100."

* * *

"Welcome back, Commander."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I assume the Eye has not made any further attacks?"

"No sir. It's been nice and quiet."

"Well, that's good for now, I suppose. We must be ready. Our enemies are making their move and may actually have a chance at finding us. However, there's one thing that they don't know we know about them."

"About Commander Falcon?"

"Exactly. We know nearly everything about him, things that he doesn't know we know about him. However, it would be wise for us to make the first move against our enemies."

"Of course. What do we do then?"

"That I still have to figure out. Also, there was a small… Incident… While I was on Pluto that we must investigate, but covertly."

"I see. I assume you'll want to lead this investigation."

"Obviously."

Blue and green eyes flashed in the dim light, almost giving off an appearance of glowing… Or were they actually glowing?

"Let's be ready to leave in our covert manner in half an hour. The Eye can remain here while we investigate."

"Of course. Who should I call to help?"

The commander of the Eye paused for a moment. "I think that you, me, and the other three of our top five officers can handle it ourselves. We'll leave the sixth in command in charge here. The other four respect him enough that they'll listen, and hopefully he can keep them under control."

"He'll be able to. His intelligence when dealing with people is not to be underestimated. If I could think of someone else who would be able to take full control of the Eye during our absence, I would suggest that we bring him with us."

"Well, it can't be helped. Let's be ready to go and down by our starfighters at 0830."

"Understood. I'll tell the others."

"Alright. See you down there, Lieutenant."

The lieutenant commander nodded and turned to leave, striding out of the room.

"So it begins…" the commander muttered to himself, gazing at the swirling purples, reds, and blues of the nebula outside for a few moments before turning and walking slowly along a conference table behind him. Black-gloved fingertips brushed lightly against the backs of several tall black chairs before the commander straightened and strode out of the room, his trench coat flapping behind him. He strode down a hallway with gleaming, jet-black walls. Several workers paused for a moment to straighten and salute as he passed them. He kept walking, black boots clanking around the many twists and turns that the hallways contained.

"Commander? You are not often down here." A couple of engineers stood at attention as the commander entered, pausing and blinking in surprise.

"No… I suppose I'm not. I also suppose… That we should start putting maps up, because I meant to go to the hangar bay."

"Well sir, I can confirm that this is not the hangar bay, this is the engine room." one of the engineers said.

"Quite so. I can tell by the engines." the commander chuckled slightly before turning on his heel and striding off.

"Of all the people to make a navigational mistake, you'd think it wouldn't be me…"

The engineers sweatdropped as they watched the commander leave, this time headed for the hangar bay.

* * *

"So this is Clomb, huh?"

"Watch out for Absorbers. Do not let them touch you." Tsubasa warned.

"What do they look like?" Ren asked.

"Rather fat… Here we go!" Maru pulled up a picture of one. "If they touch you, they literally absorb you entirely, although your face will still be sticking out for a while." the pink-haired girl sounded grossed out at the description.

"Hence why you don't let them touch you." Tsubasa said firmly as he continued to walk, the group nearly having to jog to keep up with his determined stride.

As they walked, they ducked out of the way of aliens, dodged swinging signs (and arms) and ignored the vendors calling out to them in grunts and snorts that could only be the language they spoke. Maru and Kite wanted desperately to translate everything, but Tsubasa insisted that they continue on. Eventually, they reached a small cantina, where Tsubasa handed out hooded cloaks and ordered the group to put them on.

"Do not lose sight of me. Make no noise, just follow me swiftly and silently." Tsubasa said as he pulled his hood over his face.

"But, aren't we here to-" Eight began, but was cut off by an angered glare from Tsubasa.

"Just follow orders." the silvernette growled.

"Something's definitely wrong…" Shinobu whispered to Kite as the group followed Tsubasa into the small, dark building.

"But we have to follow orders.." Kite muttered back, trying to ignore the multiple aliens that were staring at them as they walked through.

Tsubasa walked swiftly to a door in the very back of the cantina, opening it and striding through without glancing back. The others followed.

"I can't see a thing in here!" Zero whispered.

"Walk straight ahead." Tsubasa's voice came.

The group did so, slowly, and stepped into yet another dark room, although this one had a few silhouettes visible in a dim light.

"Turn on the lights, Agent." a deep voice said.

Zero and the others squinted in the harsh white light that came on as a result. Once their eyes had adjusted, however, they gasped in shock at the person in front of them.

"Welcome, crew members of the Infinity."

"C-commander Falcon?!"

"Your eyes are not fooling you. I apologize for the inconvenience of having to come here, but it was necessary that my enemies not know where I was."

"N-not a problem at all, sir." Zero said.

"Good." Falcon smiled in a way that approached smirking.

"But, sir, if you don't mind me asking… Why were we brought here?" Kite spoke up.

"Well, the reason for that is quite simple: I do not have a ship." Falcon replied, standing.

"So you need us to take you somewhere?" Ren asked, blinking.

"No. That will not be necessary." Falcon replied.

The group looked confusedly at the dark-skinned man in front of them.

"Let's just say that I will be taking control of the Infinity for a while." Falcon said with a grin that could not be described as anything but evil.

"I don't mean to be rude, sir, but… Considering that you were pronounced dead, you don't exactly have the authority to commandeer a ship anymore." Kite spoke up.

Falcon froze. "Do I not have that authority?" he turned to Kite with a malicious look, eyes narrowing.

"According to the rules, no." Maru spoke up, her laptop out.

"Oh, well that's too bad, because you see… I make the rules in this room, and I say that I do have the authority." Falcon said.

"That's outrageous! Captain, you can't let him do this!" Zero shouted, turning to Tsubasa, or rather, to where Tsubasa had been standing. In the place of the silvernette, a young man with black hair that covered one of his eyes was standing, an evil smirk on his face that exactly matched the smirk on Falcon's.

"Just what is going on here?!" Shinobu demanded.

"Allow me to formally introduce myself." Falcon stepped forwards as several figures clad completely in black with helmets that covered their faces entered, pointing guns at the group.

Zero and the others gasped in shock at suddenly finding themselves taken prisoner by the very man they had looked up to for so many years as their commander.

"What happened to the captain?!" Zero demanded as he was handcuffed.

"Oh please. I've been playing him since before we left Pluto." the second black-haired man said, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Who are you?!" Ren demanded, struggling against her captors.

"I am Enzo Garcia. Perhaps you've heard of me." the man who had been acting as Tsubasa giggled evilly. "Amazing, huh?"

Maru gasped. "G-Garcia?! As in… The famous ring of bounty hunters… Who attacked my home planet long before the Eye ever came…?!"

"Oh, so you've heard of us then?" Falcon asked.

"You too?!" the group gasped.

"But of course." Falcon gave a small bow. "I am the current head of the Garcia family, Argo Garcia."

"You were exiled! How did you manage to become commander?!" Kite shouted.

"Oh, with a little bit of trickery and some holograms, some mind control devices that convinced everyone I wasn't dangerous." Falcon, or rather, Argo, chuckled evilly.

"Why?!"

"Why? To take down the WBBA, of course! They have killed many of my family members and exiled others. We would be the most powerful, the richest family in the universe if it wasn't for the WBBA Space Core! The best way to take it down was from within, and we almost succeeded! The only thing that stands in our way now is the flagship, and once we can take that back from the idiot I named as my successor, the WBBA will fall! You see, that's why I need the Infinity. The ship that I normally work for, known as the Nemesis, is already marked as an enemy to the WBBA, naturally. So, you see then, my plan is to replace your crew with my own and take over the unsuspecting flagship!"

"No! We can't let you do this!" Zero shouted.

"Oh, but I already have. Your real captain is either aboard the Nemesis as we speak, or marooned on a planet with no supplies, where he will not last very long. You have already lost. The WBBA has already lost! And do you know what's next?!" Argo cackled.

Zero and the others growled.

"The _Eye of the Storm_." Argo gained an evil glint in his eye.

The group gasped in shock.

"That is the final weapon I need to take over the WBBA entirely. Nothing has ever been able to stop it."

"How can you even think you can take over such a powerful entity?!" Eight yelled.

"Oh, because, unlike you and most of the idiots in this universe… I know what it is and how it works."

* * *

**Dun dun duuun! Obviously, Falcon's actually Argo, and he knows what the Eye is! I'll just leave you with that little tidbit of information. (That and the Eye's commander getting lost, which I threw in there just because I thought it was funny.) Galaxy out! **


	6. Volcano

**I'm back! Late due to procrastination, but back! Enjoy! And I suggest you listen to the song "Volcano" by Rapture Ruckus before or after reading this chapter, as I've picked that song to go with this chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Great. Just great. We should have seen this coming."

"Calm down, Kite. We didn't know that it wasn't really Tsubasa."

"But he was acting so differently! We even noticed it! We should have figured out that it wasn't him!"

"Kite! Calm down. We'll think of something." Zero snapped.

"Guys…" Maru whispered, grinning.

"What?"

"They didn't take our communicators and the signal isn't blocked from what I can tell."

"What the-?!" Everyone checked. Sure enough, their communication devices were still tucked neatly underneath their sleeves.

"We can… Call the Commander, perhaps?" Ren suggested.

Zero nodded. "Assuming he hasn't been also.. Taken over, so to speak."

"Worth the try. Now that they have us, I think he'd reveal it if he was someone on their side…" Shinobu sighed.

"I'll call him then." Zero said, pressing a few buttons on his communicator and narrowing his eyes slightly as he thought of how he should get in contact.

"I'm partially surprised you're not calling me from the Infinity's main computer. That'd be easier, would it not?" Gingka's voice said mere minutes later.

"Well….." Zero trailed off awkwardly.

"Don't tell me, you've now found out that Tsubasa wasn't really Tsubasa."

"You knew?!"

"The moment I talked to him before you guys went down to the planet, I knew something was off. A quick scan for Tsubasa's signal confirmed that he was not aboard the Infinity."

"Then where is he? And where are you?"

"Well, I was going to pick him up, but then his signal moved away from Pluto, indicating that he was on a ship. Right now I'm tracking you guys on the Infinity while the flagship heads for the assumed destination of whatever ship is carrying Tsubasa. Don't worry, the situation is under control."

The group sighed in relief. "Okay… What's the plan then?"

"The only sort of plan that I really have is to sort of intercept the enemy ship. Whatever you do, do not let Falcon know that I know about this. If he knows, then the fragment of a plan I do have will fail."

"You knew?!"

"Yes, but I'm assuming that Falcon's entire plan is based on the assumption that I either do not know that he's still alive or that I don't know who he really is. The Garcias are cunning. Don't underestimate them. As far as I can tell from your current trajectory, you're headed for Mustafar."

"I have no clue what that planet is."

"It's entirely volcanic." Gingka said. "They're probably planning on marooning you there. Tsubasa's signal seems to be on the planet's surface."

"Someone's coming." Maru whispered.

"We'd better stop talking then. Remember, you know nothing and your situation is hopeless. Hopefully I can somehow get you away from here. The flagship will be there by now. Good luck." Gingka said before cutting off the communication just as the door of the room the group was locked into opened to reveal a young woman.

"You will follow me to the bridge." she said.

"Why?" Kite challenged.

"Because if you don't we'll use force. Argo wants to talk to you." she sneered.

The group growled, but followed her anyway. Soon enough, they were on the bridge. A sheepish-looking Gingka was standing there, glaring at Argo with his usual mischievous look gleaming in his eyes. Zero and the others froze in shock at the sight of the redhead, who was handcuffed.

"Fancy meeting you here. I was going to just teleport onto the bridge and leave the Pegasus to orbit, surprising you, but it seems that I teleported onto the bridge leaving the Pegasus to orbit and getting captured instead. Isn't this an interesting day?"

By the time the redhead had finished speaking, Zero and his friends were all sweatdropping heavily.

"How does he…?" Eight whispered.

"Silence!" Argo thundered, then turned to Gingka. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Gingka asked innocently.

"Don't play games! Where is the WBBA flagship?!" Argo shouted.

"Far from here, traitor." Gingka shot back, his eyes flashing.

"You're lucky you teleported here, otherwise my plan would have been perfect. You would have never known who I really was, and you would have handed over the flagship without protest, then been killed off in your sleep with no struggle." Argo growled.

"Well, isn't luck interesting?" Gingka chuckled.

"Don't play games with me! Where is the flagship?!" Argo shouted.

"I told you, it's not here. I was merely exploring on my own in Pegasus. Sheesh, I didn't know you were an enemy! What makes you think I'd leave it cloaked if it were here?!"

"Cloaked…?" Zero and the others blinked.

Argo snorted. "The flagship has a cloaking device, yes."

"Which it usually has on unless it detects an ally or has to fight an enemy." Gingka added.

"The crew will still be loyal to me, overjoyed to have me back until they find out who I really am… But by then it will be too late and the surplus crew that the Nemesis is currently carrying will have taken control, killing off the crew of the WBBA's precious flagship."

"Not any more they won't be on your side." Gingka narrowed his eyes.

"They will never know." Argo chuckled. "And you've made it quite easy to get them here."

"Have I now?" Gingka raised an eyebrow.

"You have a tracking device on you. Every ship's captain does. We prevented you from sending out a distress signal, but now we will send it out. They will come to rescue you, and they will find that I am here as well to take back control of the WBBA. What they won't know is that I am going to destroy the WBBA for what they've done to my family."

"You can't do this!" Zero protested.

"I already am, fool!" Argo slapped Zero, hard, sending the teen flying into the wall.

"Zero!" Ren and the others yelped. Gingka growled.

"Leave them alone!" the redhead snapped.

"So you did listen when I was training you to be an inefficient commander." Argo chuckled.

The crew of the Infinity gasped. Gingka narrowed his eyes.

"I always had told you that a commander should look out for the people he commands. Doing so can sometimes take so much of your attention that you miss the important details." Argo chuckled, getting right into Gingka's face.

"I'm more in control of this situation than you think I am." Gingka said calmly.

"You think you have any control at all?!" Argo sneered.

"More than you know." Gingka narrowed his eyes with a mischievous smirk. Argo narrowed his eyes angrily and nodded to one of the two men holding Gingka's arms. Moments later, the crew of the Infinity gasped as Gingka cried out in pain, electricity surging from the handcuffs restraining him for a few moments before stopping as the redhead slumped forwards slightly, panting.

"Take him to the Nemesis. The others can go to the planet below." Argo growled.

Zero and the others struggled as they were dragged off.

"Don't bother resisting." Argo's crew snapped at them, shocking them into submission.

"Don't worry. I've got a plan." Gingka called as he was led off in a different direction.

"You're captured under high security! How could you possibly have a plan?!" Argo snapped at Gingka.

"You'll see." The redhead merely smirked mischievously.

Zero and the others made little resistance as they were led off towards a teleportation platform that would get them to the surface of the planet below.

"Better hope you don't end up standing in lava." Enzo sneered as he pressed the button.

"In what?!" the group yelped, their eyes widening as they disappeared.

* * *

Mere moments later, the group reappeared on the surface of the planet below, their eyes still wide as they trembled, handcuffs now gone. A collective sigh of relief rose from the group once they found that they were all standing on solid rock.

"Captain Ootori! You're alright!" Maru suddenly exclaimed, running towards a familiar silver-haired man standing on a nearby rock.

Tsubasa looked up and gasped. "You guys- Then the Infinity has fallen into enemy hands?!"

"Unfortunately, yes. Turns out that Falcon was actually the leader of one of the most dangerous groups in the world… He's going to take over the Eye of the Storm and then use it to take down the DNA! He even claims that he knows what it is and how to beat it!" Ren exclaimed.

Tsubasa growled. "And we're marooned here with no way to stop him…"

"I just hope the Commander's plan works." Kite sighed.

"Gingka?" Tsubasa blinked.

"They forgot to take our communicators, so we called him. He said he had known Falcon was alive and was Argo Garcia the whole time, as well as knowing that the person we thought was you wasn't really you. He even knew that you were here on the surface already." Maru explained.

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes in thought. "How could he have even known…? That's rather impressive, to be honest."

"What do we do?" Eight asked.

"Keep moving. There are aliens here that are fairly hostile and will probably throw us off a cliff if they get the chance." Tsubasa sighed.

"Why would they do that?" Ren yelped.

"Well, according to the translator in my earpiece, they're trying to give a bunch of sacrifices to some deity to get it to leave their planet in peace." Tsubasa sighed. "They're sort of easy to escape, but they're getting more and more clever. We'll have to have a watch at all times to ensure that nobody gets thrown off of anything."

"Hopefully Gingka's plan works. He teleported right onto the Infinity even though he knew it was dangerous!" Zero exclaimed.

Tsubasa froze, then animefell. "That idiot!" he nearly shouted. "I don't know what his plan is, but… To be honest, even though I haven't seen Gingka try a strategy in five years, somehow I doubt this one will actually work, just knowing him."

"He seemed pretty confident." Eight commented.

"He's always confident in his own strength…" Tsubasa sighed. "Doesn't mean that it always works out. I've had to bail him out before."

"Oh…"

"Let's get moving. It'll only be a matter of time before those aliens find us." Tsubasa walked off with the others following.

As Tsubasa had predicted, the aliens found the group mere moments later. Zero and the others ran, Tsubasa in the lead.

"Keep running!"

"It's so hot…" Ren groaned, panting.

"Once we escape them… We can stop." Zero gasped. More of the creatures popped up out of the ground around him and grabbed his arms, causing him to cry out in fear.

"Zero!" The others exclaimed, rushing back to help him, only to be grabbed themselves.

The aliens shoved the entire group towards a large cliff, chanting in their own language as they did so.

"What are they saying?!" Ren whimpered.

"They're going to throw us off… Basically they're asking this deity or whatever to leave them alone and have mercy." Tsubasa sighed.

"We can't die like this!" Maru wailed.

"I know, but if we don't escape, then it was an honor to serve with you all." Tsubasa said, somehow managing to maintain his usual calm composure.

"S-same." Zero said nervously. The others nodded in agreement as they continued struggling against the grasp of the aliens.

A burst of excited and angered chatter broke loose as Ren managed to break free of the grasp of the aliens holding her. The blonde bolted away.

"Don't look back, Ren!" Zero yelled as the blonde paused for an instant. The next second, however, Ren screamed as Zero was thrown off the cliff, plummeting towards a large river of lava below.

Time seemed to slow. Zero closed his eyes, bracing himself for his imminent death. As a result, he didn't see the aliens release his friends and scatter as several streaks of flame exploded from the face of the cliff they had all been standing on. Tsubasa and the others gasped in surprise and awe as the sky burst into flames, spiraling everywhere and chasing off every last alien. Ten individual streaks were visible, spiraling through the air before dropping to the ground with a metallic clank as nine figures stood from the kneeling positions they had landed in. The tenth streak flew down the cliff face at high speeds, catching Zero and flying back up to neatly deposit him back on top of the cliff before landing neatly in the center of the semicircle the others had formed.

"Y-you're…" Tsubasa gasped. "I saw you… I saw you on Pluto."

"You did indeed. Afternoon, Captain. We meet again." Blue eyes gleamed in the light from the molten rocks around them.

* * *

**Duun duun duuuunnnn! And Tsubasa and the commander of the Eye meet once again! I'll let you all enjoy that little cliffhanger for a week. Galaxy out!**


	7. Confusion

**I'm back! I really need to get these chapters done earlier, sheesh! It's 1 A.M. here right now. Ah well. I'll work on that. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, in which you find out what the Eye is! That and another big reveal at the end. XP Enjoy! Oh, and shout-out to Risachan36. You guys should go check out her stories. She's awesome at writing. **

* * *

"Y-you two know each other?!"

"Barely…" Tsubasa breathed, his golden eyes meeting the blue of the nameless figure.

"Who are you, really?" The silvernette asked.

"All you need to know is that I command the Eye of the Storm."

This statement resulted in a sharp gasp from Zero and the others, although Tsubasa merely growled.

"I guessed that much from the insignia on your right shoulder. What do you want?! There has to be a reason that we keep meeting. Why did you bother saving us when you've destroyed so many others?!"

"I will answer no further questions. Take them to the waiting room aboard the Eye." the Commander turned away and began to walk off.

"Waiting room?!"

"Aboard?!"

The Eye's commander turned slightly back, looking over his shoulder at them.

"Did you not know?" He asked calmly.

"Did we not know what?! Who are you?!" Tsubasa exclaimed.

The commander turned back fully. "The Eye of the Storm is a ship… And you happen to be standing right on top of it."

The entire group instantly paled.

"We're what…?"

The commander tapped his foot on the ground, twice. Instantly, the rocks they were standing on dropped away, depositing them into a cavernous, dark hole which soon closed over their heads, leaving them in total darkness.

"Ow…" Zero groaned as he laid on the ground, which felt… Carpeted?

"Oh, so you're here too." A weak voice said as the lights in the room flashed on, revealing a well-furnished room with a familiar figure sitting in a wheelchair.

"Director!" Tsubasa gasped, rushing over. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?!" the silvernette knelt next to Ryo's wheelchair as the rest of the group snapped to attention.

"I was in the hospital until I was kidnapped." Ryo replied with a sigh. "But, as you can see, I've still got everything I need here." he gestured to the medical equipment around him. "And you may as well be at ease."

The group relaxed.

"So, how'd you manage to get here? I thought you were out in space looking for the Eye."

"Well, we found it…" Zero chuckled awkwardly. "Although we, uh… Didn't come here by choice…:

"What do we do now?! Why did they save us and kidnap us?!" Ren panicked.

"Calm down, Ren. We'll think of something." Tsubasa said sternly. The blonde immediately sat down, trembling, but controlling herself nonetheless.

"Maru, didn't you say you were able to contact Gingka from the Infinity?" Tsubasa asked.

"Y-yeah…?" Maru blinked.

"Try it again. Perhaps he can get us out of this mess."

"But didn't you say-"

"I know what I said! But, right now, he's the only way we're going to get out of this in time to stop Argo! I only hope that his plan will work." Tsubasa sighed and looked up at the closed doors above them, which were jet black.

* * *

"Find him!"

"How in the world did he just teleport off the ship?! That should be impossible, we searched him! There wasn't a teleportation device!"

"Starship Infinity, this is the Nemesis. Please come in."

"This is the Infinity. What's going on over there? We can see your red alert lights from here!" Argo exclaimed.

"Hagane teleported. Right off our ship. We can't detect where he teleported to, and we didn't even detect anything teleporting at all! The guards said he just vaporized. Is he there?!"

"No, Commander Doji… And we're the only ones within teleporting range, unless…" Argo paused and growled.

"Hang on, we.. Found him." Doji looked slightly embarrassed.

"Oh, well that's good. Better keep a closer eye on him.' Argo sneered.

Doji growled and ended the connection, turning as two Nemesis crew members escorted Gingka onto the bridge. The redhead looked around. "Which ship am I on again?"

Doji blinked in surprise. "W-what?"

"Oh, since you're here I'm on the Nemesis. Okay. Good. That's where I wanted to be." Gingka smirked.

Doji huffed. "You are more of a fool than Argo said you were."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Gingka said, still smirking.

Doji blinked in shock at the redhead, wondering how in the world he could have managed to get in control of the entire WBBA fleet.

"Take him to his cell…" Doji said slowly.

"Oh no, whatever shall I do now?" Gingka said sarcastically as he was led away.

Doji blinked in confusion. "Someone question him and find out why he's so confident." he growled.

* * *

"There's got to be a way out of here." Tsubasa growled, examining the walls of the room they were trapped in.

"What do they want with us, anyway?" Ren wondered.

"If they were planning on getting rid of us, they wouldn't have rescued Zero… So there has to be something else. Information, perhaps?" Kite thought aloud.

"You are partially correct." a deep, distorted voice that the group now recognized as belonging to the Eye's commander said from above them.

"Then what do you want?!" Tsubasa demanded.

"At this exact moment, the location of the emergency switch to shut off the engines of the Infinity, a fact which Captain Ootori should know quite well, am I correct?"

"Why should we tell you?" Tsubasa narrowed his eyes.

"I have to immobilize that ship somehow to prevent the one you used to know as Commander Falcon from leaving. That is all."

"He said he knows how to defeat you, how to defeat the Eye. I'd be careful if I were you."

A snort that could almost be described as sounding amused was heard.

"You almost sound like you're on his side."

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes. "I believe that we're neutral in this conflict here."

"You're no more neutral than I am, Captain."

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes. "Says the one who has attacked multiple planets without mercy. Before we were captured by Argo and sent here, we were searching for you to take you down so that no more planets would be attacked."

"I was entirely aware of that. I even bothered to show up on Pluto for that reason."

Tsubasa gasped sharply. "H-how could you have known that?!"

"The Eye has a more far-reaching information network than you might think. We knew about the attack on the WBBA Space Academy graduation ceremony as soon as it happened. We knew you had been kidnapped. We have known for several years that the one who called himself Commander Falcon was really Argo Garcia, although he doesn't know that we knew. We knew you were searching for us. We knew you went to Pluto, where Argo's goons kidnapped the Captain and secretly replaced him with Enzo Garcia. We knew that the real Captain was taken to the starship Nemesis, which we anticipated coming here so that we could arrive first. We knew that Enzo Garcia was going to meet his brother at some point, and when he went to Clomb it became clear, as we had traced Argo there previously. We knew that command of the Infinity was no longer in WBBA hands, and we determined to strike first."

The mouths and eyes of the entire group were wide open by the time the Eye's commander had finished speaking.

"H-how did you…?"Kite squeaked.

"We always make it a point to stay one step ahead of our enemies. We also have a very good idea of what the Garcias' and Doji's plan is. Now, will you or will you not tell us where the controls to shut down the Infinity's systems are?"

* * *

"Alright Hagane, talk. Where is the flagship?"

"Where you'd least expect it."

"Answer the question!"

"I did."

"That's not what I meant!"

"I'm aware of that."

Doji growled. "Then tell me what I want to know!"

"Why should I?" Gingka challenged.

"Because if you don't then we'll use… Persuasive methods." Doji said.

"You think I'm scared of you. You're wrong." Gingka said calmly.

"You should be scared." Doji growled.

"Well I'm not. Problem?"

"Just answer the question." Doji growled, his finger on a button.

"No. That's my final answer."

Doji pressed the button, sending sparks flying through the handcuffs that were restraining Gingka. However, much to Doji's surprise, Gingka made no reaction.

"I assume that's supposed to hurt?" Gingka smirked.

"How… How are you…" Doji whispered in shock.

"As if I'd tell you anything. Now you see that I'm not scared of you though." Gingka chuckled.

Doji growled and stormed off, leaving Gingka behind in the interrogation room.

"Well, now that that's done." Gingka smirked and pressed the pointer finger of his right hand to the thumb of the same. In an instant, he had disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind the handcuffs. The redhead reappeared in the engine room of the Infinity and slunk into the shadows.

"Let's see you counteract this." Gingka smirked, flipping several switches and listening to the engines' hum slowly fade into nothingness.

* * *

"What's going on?!" Argo yelled as the Infinity began to fall out of orbit.

"Sir, the entire ship is shutting down!" one of Argo's agents exclaimed.

"How?!"

"I don't know!"

"Bridge to Engineering, what's going on down there?! Did you turn off something?!" Argo yelled angrily.

"Oh, hello again. I found some switches and thought I'd flip them. See you later!" Gingka's voice snickered from the other end. Argo merely blinked in shock.

"How are you here?! You're on the Nemesis being interrogated! Doji told me so himself!"

"I was there. Now I'm in the Infinity's engine room. Got a problem with that?"

"How…?"

"Oh, please. You underestimated me, that's all. Better look out, Argo. I've been a step ahead of you this entire time." Gingka chuckled before turning off the ship's power and leaving Argo entirely in the dark.

* * *

"Sir, the Infinity seems to be having trouble." One of Doji's crew members said as Doji stepped back onto the bridge, angry.

"What is it?"

"All of the lights and engines turned off and it's falling towards the planet. It's lost orbit."

"They've lost power? Impossible. There was no attack. Call them."

"Their communications are down, sir. At this rate, we're helpless to help them."

"No we're not. Use our tractor beam to keep them in orbit."

"Sir, the Infinity is half the size of the Nemesis. I don't think our tractor beam can hold something that size in orbit."

"Then use it to slow their descent so that they have more time!" Doji growled.

"Trying it now, sir. We can't guarantee that we will be able to even get the whole ship within range."

"Sir, a teleport was detected within the interrogation rooms mere moments before the Infinity lost orbit."

"A… What?! That should be impossible. WHere did it teleport to?!"

"We cannot detect, sir. However, since there was not another one detected on this ship. we assume it wasn't to another part of the ship."

"Check on Hagane! But there's no way he should have been able to teleport through our shields… Or the Infinity's shields. It's not possible. The science simply doesn't exist."

"Hagane is no longer within the interrogation rooms, sir."

Doji growled. "That little-! How did he get out?!"

"We don't know, sir."

"Oh please. I wasn't gone for long."

Doji whirled, growling at the sight of Gingka leaning casually against the wall behind him. The redhead was smirking, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked Doji in the eye with a knowing smile.

"Just what are you up to?"

"Shouldn't you be more worried about the Infinity than about me right now?"

"I asked you a question!"

"And I didn't bother answering. Seriously though, it's headed for danger."

"They'll get it back up within minutes."

"They don't know where the switches are. Argo didn't study enough about the layouts of WBBA ships to be able to know that, and I've bothered with giving the crew instructions to just bail ship and not let him know anything. You'll be seeing all of the escape pods jettison soon."

"Why you-!" Doji lunged for Gingka, who merely pointed his left arm at the evil captain and activated a hidden flamethrower, much to the surprise of everyone on the bridge. Doji yelped in pain at the heat and dove away from Gingka, rolling across the floor for a few seconds to put the fire out.

"Perhaps you should know something about me, Doji. Something about the flagship that I command." Gingka said calmly, sternly, almost ominously.

"And what is that?!" Doji snapped.

"For one thing, we have developed our science far beyond that of the rest of the universe as far as we know. The flagship is a testing ground for multiple new gadgets, one of which happens to be the wrist-mounted flamethrower I just demonstrated. Another would be the use of personal holographic disguises, which I am wearing. That and small-scale cloaking devices, which is how you didn't detect my teleportation device before. I am practically armed to the teeth, but your scanners wouldn't tell you that, because I have the cloaking device I just mentioned."

Doji growled. "You…"

"Oh, and one other thing. Since you haven't really worked inside the WBBA, I don't suppose you've heard of this… The Eye of the Storm isn't the only thing that is feared by many. There's a single person, who happens to work for the WBBA, who is also feared, although probably not as much as the Eye, and he hasn't been around nearly as long."

"Why do you change the subject to him? He's nowhere near here." Doji growled.

"Oh, please. I already know more about this situation than you do… Haven't you bothered to think about asking my code name?" Gingka smirked.

"Why should I?" Doji growled.

"Because you might be intrigued to know… To know who you're really up against…" Gingka said slowly, taking a few steps forwards and looking Doji straight in the eye.

"What are you talking about?" Doji snarled, suddenly feeling threatened despite the supposed youth and inexperience of the redhead in front of him.

"Years of training. I was trained for a command position from long before I officially entered the Academy nine years ago. Even Argo didn't know about my training. While I was with him, I was also being trained by many others, my father being one of them. Argo's training was rather repetitive by the time I got to it, and frankly, I could tell that he wasn't trying to actually prepare me for a command position. I'm not as stupid as most people think I am. I knew nearly the entire time that 'Falcon' wasn't who he said he was, but I had a direct order from my dad to not let him know that we suspected him of being up to something."

Doji gasped.

"From that new knowledge… Who do you think you're really talking to? Sure, I may be Gingka Hagane, but there's more to me than meets the eye initially."

"You're kidding me…" Doji growled.

"That's right." Gingka smirked.

"You're-"

"I am."

Doji growled. Gingka merely grinned, a grin even more knowing and mischievous than any Doji had seen before.

"I am the one known as… Stormflight."

* * *

**BAM! Didn't see that coming, did you?! Okay, so one or two of you did but that's because I gave out a spoiler to some. (Thatmeansyou,JackandSoph. ;) ) Yush! You read that right! I've brought Stormflight into another story! Woot, woot! Aaaaaaanywaaaay... I'll probably have some sort of epic battle in the next chapter. Actuallydidn'tmeantohavetheInfinitydisabledbutthatsortapoppedintomyheadrandomlyandjusthappened,so...I'llworkaroundit. Anyway, see you next chapter! Galaxy out!**


	8. Fear

**I'm back! Later than I'd usually like, as usual, but I'm not gonna miss a week here! (Although... It is like, two in the morning here right now, so... -smacks self for not finishing chapter sooner-) Ah well. Enjoy. (Oh, and Jack, Soph, there's a... Reply... To your last review... In the end AN. Be sure you read it.)**

* * *

"Impossible." Doji growled.

"Not impossible. You just don't want to admit defeat yet, but you will, soon enough." Gingka said before disappearing once more in a flash of light.

"Where did he go?!" Doji demanded.

"We don't know, sir. As usual, we only detected the leaving end of the teleportation."

Doji growled. "Find him. Whatever it takes, find him! I will not be defeated by that idiot!"

* * *

Zero was pacing the black walls of the room he and the others were currently trapped in, looking for any sort of crevice that would indicate a door they could use to at least begin an escape attempt, although, knowing the Eye's prowess, succeeding in escaping was highly unlikely.

"Well, now that I've succeeded in whipping Doji into a frenzied panic, time to get you guys back in control of the Infinity." A familiar voice said.

Everyone whirled. Gingka was leaning casually against the far wall with the most casual yet knowing smirk possible playing around his lips as his eyes glittered with mischief.

"How… How did you…?"

"Height of WBBA technology. In short, I have a device on me that is cloaked, but it can teleport me within a certain range. Here. We're getting you guys back up to the Infinity but as a warning, it is currently falling out of orbit, because I disabled it entirely as a sort of distraction to throw Argo's team into chaos and to distract Doji. So, here's the plan: I'll teleport you guys to the bridge, while I teleport down to the engine room and the control switches. You will have about two minutes to incapacitate Argo and his goons, preferably without killing them, but if you have to, then do it. After those two minutes, I'll reactivate the ship and you guys can focus on getting it back into orbit."

"O-okay…?" Tsubasa said, still trying to recover from the shock of Gingka's sudden appearance.

"What about the Director?" Kite asked.

"Well, obviously he'll be taken care of, don't worry." Gingka chuckled. "Here, put these on so that I can teleport you all to the correct locations." the redhead handed out several silver bracelets. The press of a hidden button soon revealed a similar bracelet on Gingka's wrist, which the redhead slid his thumb over.

"Alright, hold still. This will most definitely feel weird if you've never teleported." he said, pressing a few more buttons before grinning at the group and hovering his finger over one final button.

"Ready?"

They nodded at him. Before they were done, Gingka had pressed the button, and, with a sudden jolt, they were back aboard the Infinity.

"What?!" Argo exclaimed before Tsubasa knocked him out cold with a solid punch to the back of the head.

"Get them!" One of the workers yelled, pointing.

"So it begins." Zero muttered, ducking underneath the swinging fist of the nearest figure and then launching a punch towards his stomach.

Shinobu tackled another enemy to the ground, the two rolling around for a while before a kick to the head from Tsubasa knocked the enemy out. Ren had managed to grab her opponent's gun and was backing him into a corner. Eight had hidden under one of the control panels and was occupied stunning any enemy who came in the door. Kite made a few feints before punching two opponents in the face at once.

"We can't teleport them off the ship. We can't get a lock!" several of the crew aboard the Nemesis exclaimed, trying to lock onto the signals of Argo and his crew.

"Keep working!" Doji growled. "We cannot lose them if we are to take over the Eye of the Storm!"

"We're working on it, sir."

"Get them!" Argo thundered as he woke up. Tsubasa instantly tackled him to the ground, trying to knock him out again. The two rolled around on the floor for a while, throwing punches, before knocking each other out simultaneously. Zero suddenly found himself pinned to the ground.

"Uhh, Kite, little help?" the blacknette called.

"Sorry, a bit busy myself." Kite grunted, trying to keep his opponent's hands off his neck.

"Hayyyyahhh!" Ren shrieked, kicking her opponent in the stomach and, surprisingly, sending him staggering backwards into a wall. In the next instant, Eight had stunned him. This freed Ren to launch herself at Zero's attacker, who yelped in surprise as he was knocked down.

"Did we get them all?" Eight asked as he stunned the remaining few enemies.

"Make sure the Captain's okay." Zero said, coughing as he stood.

"Systems online." The computer reported as all of the lights in the room turned on, as well as the control panels. At the exact same moment, Argo and his crew all disappeared.

"Shields back online. They'll notice in an instant that our systems are back up." Kite said.

"Zero, better get us back into the air and quick!" Shinobu exclaimed, noting that they had already plunged into the layer of ash and smoke covering the planet's surface.

"Sir, the Infinity has recovered and is returning to orbit."

"So Argo regained control after all then."

"Sir, we've recovered our allies, but they all seem to have been knocked out cold."

"What?!" Doji whirled in surprise. "Then that means…" the evil mastermind growled. "Call the Infinity. Now."

"Your plan seems to be failing." Kite said calmly as Doji came up onscreen, although in reality the young adult was nearly petrified, not knowing how to deal with enemies. However, with Tsubasa currently out of the loop, so to speak, Kite seemed to be the best option.

"How did you get off the planet's surface?! Tell me!" Doji demanded.

"That'd be my doing." Gingka's voice cut in as the screen split to show the redhead's face, although he seemed to be surrounded by darkness.

"You." Doji growled. "We are prepared to blast any ship that comes to help you out of the sky. The Nemesis has more power than any WBBA ship."

Zero and his friends growled. Gingka merely looked skeptical, the mischievous look still shining in his eyes just as it usually did.

"Prove it. I dare you." the redhead said, much to the surprise of everyone else.

Doji growled. "Then I may as well start by blasting the Infinity out of the sky, hmm? It is not needed in our plans. We can find another ship to assist in our plans."

"Mmhmm, just one tiny little problem with you doing that." Gingka said.

"You think you can stop me, with just your little starfighter, wherever that is?" Doji cackled. "Pathetic."

"The Pegasus happens to be aboard the flagship." Gingka said calmly. Doji froze.

"Calculating in the longest distance range of the teleport I use, which, by the way, is a mere 1,000 miles, what do you think that means?" Gingka raised an eyebrow quizzically.

Doji narrowed his eyes. Gingka merely smirked.

* * *

"Where did they go?!"

"They disappeared. Right through our shields."

"This could potentially be a problem for the Eye."

"Should we call the commander?"

"No. He's occupied."

"Alright. What should we do then?"

"Monitor the ships above and await orders. At least there is now no further threat of the Infinity crashing into us because of that idiot's antics."

"If they start firing on each other?"

"We await orders. That is all."

"Alright, alright, I get it Lieutenant. Sheesh."

"That's Lieutenant Commander to you, Colonel." the Lieutenant snapped, green eyes flashing in the light from the volcanoes outside.

"Fine, fine. Whatever."

At that moment, yellow lights began flashing.

"What in the name of-?!" the Colonel blinked and looked around.

"The Commander has put us on a yellow alert, huh?" The Lieutenant said.

"So… Battle stations and ready just in case then?"

"Of course." The Lieutenant flashed an excited grin.

"All crew members, prepare for what is likely imminent battle."

* * *

"Really, Doji. The question you should be asking is how I outwitted you. Really, I'm practically dying to answer."

"You could just go ahead and die for all I care." Doji growled.

"Oh please. I know you're curious." Gingka grinned.

Doji narrowed his eyes. "Why should I humor you by letting you boast, rather than blowing you out of the sky?"

"Because you really do want to know more."

Doji growled again, clenching his fists.

"Very well then, I won't tell you." Gingka huffed. "I'll just teleport back to my own flagship."

Doji growled as Gingka cut off the connection. "We still have one card to play. We will get command of the Eye, be sure of that!"

"I don't think that's entirely possible for you to do." Tsubasa muttered as he stood, having regained consciousness a few seconds before.

"Watch me." Doji growled. "Argo knows exactly how to do it, and his plan will be flawless. The Eye's commander trusts him."

"We'll see about that." Tsubasa said coldly, cutting off the connection.

"The Eye's commander… Didn't he say that he was going to take Falcon, I mean, Argo, down?" Maru asked.

"Something to that effect, if I remember correctly." Tsubasa sighed. "We should get out of here as fast as we can."

"Just one problem with that." Zero frowned. "Our engines don't seem to be working properly. They're only giving enough thrust to keep us in orbit."

"No.. They're giving full thrust. They work fine." Kita whispered.

"What is it then?" Tsubasa muttered, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Tractor beam. Our sensors are barely detecting it, but a stronger than normal tractor beam is holding us close to the planet in orbit. I don't think the Nemesis has noticed yet, but a similar tractor beam is holding them in place as well."

"Source?" Tsubasa asked, although he felt he knew the answer.

"The surface." Kite whispered. "It's the Eye. We're doomed."

"Alright, Ootori, what have you and your friends done to our ship?" Doji growled, making another connection.

"We're as stuck as you are. We just know what's holding us here." Tsubasa growled. "If you plan on surviving this, you'd better hope that Argo knows as much as he says he does."

"What are you talking about?" Doji snapped.

"I think you can figure that out on your own." Tsubasa snarled.

"I assume you have both now figured out your situations?" A voice that had already become all-too-familiar to the crew of the Infinity said.

"You." Tsubasa growled. "Let us go. What did we ever do to earn your antagonism?"

"Antagonism? I wouldn't exactly call a mere tractor beam to restrain your ships from leaving antagonism, but if you wish to phrase it that way, then go ahead."

"Who are you?" Doji growled as Argo stepped into the room behind him.

"Who am I? Why, the answer to that is quite simple. I am the commander of the Eye of the Storm."

"It's within communication range?" Argo breathed.

"And a hello to you too … Argo Garcia."

Argo recoiled. "No…" He muttered.

"That's right. You managed to let us know who you really are. Not that it matters. We always knew. Your family and their knack for bounty hunting plus other things that, by the way, happen to be illegal, are quite well-known."

Argo growled.

"We knew the whole time, in case you thought that your little plan for galactic domination could ever work out."

Argo recoiled again, staggering backwards as if he had been hit full-on in the chest.

"You knew what we are. Your plan, if you don't mind me telling everyone present, was to merely show that you were around still. You expected us to welcome you back. You were wrong. Had you managed to make contact earlier, you would have been arrested, blown out of the sky, or otherwise… Taken care of."

"To… Welcome him back?" Tsubasa blinked.

"Well… He did control this ship once before." The Commander said, the tone of his voice, although distorted, clearly showing that he was enjoying the conversation.

"How many commanders of enemies have you trained up and then deserted?!" Doji and Tsubasa shouted simultaneously. Argo opened his mouth to reply, but before he could answer, he had disappeared.

"I can't have him doing any further… Damage." the Eye's Commander said calmly. "As for you two… What to do with you, hmm? Oh… I know. Of course. I'll just do what I was preparing to do all along."

Both Tsubasa and Doji, plus their crews, became tense.

"Really, it will take no effort at all."

"Captain Ootori…" Kite whispered fearfully, his eye on the screen in front of him.

"What is it…?" Tsubasa asked, although he feared he already knew the answer.

"T-there's…" Kite paused for an instant.

"Sir, atmospheric disturbance on the planet! It's directly below us!" Doji's crew exclaimed.

"Impossible!" Doji exclaimed.

"You didn't exactly expect this, now did you? No, of course not. Our cloaking systems are too good, even when we're in motion, for you to be able to detect anything." the Commander said.

"Sir, a large object has just appeared directly below us, among the disturbances. I can confirm that both the disturbances and the tractor beam are coming from it."

"I know that!" Doji snapped.

"Afraid? You should be. After expecting us to leap out of lightspeed in front of you, which would be scary in itself, you suddenly find that we arrived long before you did and were lying in wait this whole time. We knew that both of you would be coming here. We also knew that you had an entire convoy waiting nearby to escort you out once you had taken control of our ship, assuming you could. Any normal ship might consider that convoy a threat."

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes, fighting to remain calm, yet trembling ever so slightly.

"In short, I suppose I might as well say it formally…" the Commander trailed off.

"Captain…" Maru breathed, pointing to the ash cloud just below and ahead of them on their screens.

Just breaking through the glowing reddish clouds, it appeared. Jet black in color, as all of the stories and rumors had told, the Eye of the Storm rose slowly, ominously, out of the clouds. The crews of the two ships could practically feel the static electricity, the searing heat, coming from the sleek, shining ship as it appeared. Hundreds, if not thousands of various turrets rose out of the sides of the ship, causing it to look like a sleek black porcupine. Along the bottom tier of the ship, in bold, silver lettering, the ship's name was painted. On the top tier, the ominous, sparkling, spiraling eye design was clearly visible. Maru panicked at the sight, shrieking and burying her head in her hands as she fell to her knees. The others stood motionless, their eyes wide. The knees of a few were knocking together in fright.

"This is the Eye of the Storm. Surrender."

* * *

**Man I've been waiting for a long time to put that cliffhanger in! -sighs contentedly- I almost forgot about it. Good thing I remembered! Obviously, battle will break out in the next chapter. (Assuming it's even gonna be a battle with the Eye's technology, of course. XP You guys will have to wait and see.)**

**-Reply to Jack and Soph-**

**Guys... I suppose the best way to do this is to just put it bluntly. The reason you guys couldn't reach Seeker is because she's already gone to Heaven. She's been gone for over a month now, since February 9th at about 5:10 P.M., Central U.S. Time. Sorry... I wish I had different news to tell you, but facts are facts and there's nothing to be done... We'll see her again though. I also changed my pen name and added 'Star' to it in memory of her... Love you guys. Thanks for not forgetting about me. Galaxy out. **


	9. Flipped

**This is it! This is the chapter I've been waiting for a long time to post! Well, so i just finished actually writing it, but still. It's been so much fun keeping this plot twist back and building up to it, but now's the time for the reveal. Better have a good-sized table ready to flip, because you're about to find out the identity of the Eye's Commander. Enjoy the random comical scenes I've put in here as well. Feel sorry for Tsubasa and the others though, the poor group. XP**

* * *

"C-Captain… What do we do…?"

Tsubasa barely heard the whispered question from the group behind him as he stared at the screen in front of him that was showing the ominous black shape still rising out of the clouds and into orbit.

"C-Commander Hagane will get us out of this… R-right?" Zero spoke up bravely. "He's gotten us out of that other fix. He'll fix this too, right?"

"We don't know where he is…" Kite reminded.

"Plus, would it be even possible for one person, no matter how skilled, to take down… That?" Maru whispered, trembling.

"No… It took a team of us to take back the Infinity, and even then our enemies were teleported off without us having to finish the fight." Tsubasa muttered. "For a single person to stop a ship that size singlehandedly would be nearly impossible. Even if he did disable the entire ship like he did with the Infinity, their crew would be able to take him out and get the ship back up and running in less than a minute, since they know the ship. Argo's crew didn't know that information."

"Speaking of disabling entire ships, why did the Eye's Commander want that information, anyway?" Ren wondered.

"... I can still hear you." the Eye's Commander sounded slightly amused, especially when Tsubasa and his crew yelped in shock.

"What do you want with us, really?! Or are we just some group that happened to get caught up in a conflict that should have remained between you and the Nemesis?!" Tsubasa demanded, glaring at the black screen that indicated their communication connection with the Eye.

"Well, that depends on how you look at things." the Commander replied calmly.

Doji growled. "Enough of this! All batteries open fire!"

"Oh, that won't end well." The Eye's Commander snorted in amusement.

"Not for you." Doji smirked.

"Our shields are up. Alpha One, fire a disabling burst at the Nemesis's weaponry. We aren't ready to destroy them just yet."

Doji gasped in surprise as one of the turrets near what was clearly the bridge of the Eye shot off a ball of electricity that hit one of the Nemesis's guns. Electricity crackled around the rest of the ship, as all of the weaponry was easily disabled.

"Any further questions, or shall I take out your artificial gravity systems next? That would be... entertaining."

Doji merely stared wide-eyed at the sensors that were indicating that all of his weaponry had been taken offline.

"We're too vulnerable…" He muttered, then stepped over and whispered something in his pilot's ear. The pilot looked up at him, shocked.

"It's that or be destroyed, now do it!" Doji growled.

"But sir, what about Mr. Garcia?!" Several of Argo's crew protested, catching on to what Doji was thinking.

"Just do it!" Doji snapped.

In a sudden explosion that rocked the entire area, the Nemesis vanished, going directly from orbit into lightspeed.

"Whoa!" Tsubasa and the others yelped as they were all practically thrown around the room. The blackness that had covered the communication link with the Eye vanished, revealing a darkened control room with black metallic paneling, as well as several rows of screens lighting up the faces of the crew, who were still managing to get back into their positions after even the Eye had been rocked by the Nemesis's sudden jump to lightspeed. Tsubasa and the others scrambled back to their feet, looking at the scene in front of them.

Nine of the figures that had kidnapped the crew of the Infinity stood from behind their stations, then sweatdropped at the sight of the Eye's Commander, who had fallen half-out of his chair and had apparently gotten tangled in the fabric of his coat. This caused a rather comical scene, as the Commander's black boots kicked around in the air for a few minutes before he managed to get back into an upright position, calmly straightening his coat and sitting back down in the command chair, shooting a glowing-eyed glare at the metal-faced group behind him to get them to stop snickering.

"Well, that was rather unexpected." He stated calmly, his own metal mask gleaming in the dim lights that seemed to be coming from below, where there was undoubtedly a large crew of pilots and engineers working.

Tsubasa growled under his breath. "You're not going to chase them?"

"Of course we are. But we have business here first."

Zero growled under his breath, beginning to hate the slightly-distorted voice that belonged to this faceless figure hiding underneath his mask while calmly and coldly destroying anything he wished to.

"Who are you, really?!" The young adult asked. stepping forwards despite Tsubasa's warning glance that clearly said to not antagonize anyone in the other ship.

"Well, isn't that a question that everyone would like answered?" the Commander replied calmly, seemingly unfazed by the question that he had undoubtedly been asked multiple times.

"What do you want with us, really?! What reason do you have to keep us here?!" Tsubasa demanded.

"Probably not one that you would entirely consider legitimate for… Certain reasons." The Commander leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, looking up at the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" Tsubasa growled.

"Well, initially we only really kidnapped you because doing so was better than letting you have to run from those aliens."

"So in other words you had a reason for not letting us get killed then and there. Would have saved you the trouble." Tsubasa growled.

"Did I say even once that you were a target?" The Commander looked directly at Tsubasa, glowing blue eyes narrowing slightly.

Tsuabsa froze. "If we're not, then why are we still here? Why are you keeping us here?"

"I have my reasons."

"And I think we have a right to know why we're being held, even if you don't happen to follow general galactic rules." Tsubasa growled.

The Commander paused for a moment. "We do follow them more so than you know, but then again you only know what you've heard and seen."

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes. "Stop babbling and tell us what's going on then."

The Commander snorted and stood from his chair. "You are one of the few people who has dared trying to give me a direct order."

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes and growled. "Ren?"

"Y-yes?"

"If he doesn't let us go within a certain amount of time fire directly on the bridge." Tsubasa muttered under his breath.

"Oh, being bold are we?" the Commander sounded amused.

"You have two options." Tsubasa said calmly. "Tell us why you're still holding us here, or release us. Do at least one of the two and we won't fire."

The Commander chuckled and began stepping slowly forwards. "You think I fear your weaponry when I command the most powerful ship in the universe as far as anyone knows?"

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes. He knew that the intimidation factor was definitely not on his side, considering that the Eye was at least ten times the size of the Infinity, and probably more than even that. However, this was not only a battle of firepower and size, but one of mental fortitude. The Commander of the Eye didn't seem to have any interest in killing him or his crew, but there also was no indication that he intended on letting them leave. Whatever the case was, Tsubasa assumed based on the Eye's reputation that its commander would have at least some respect for courage.

The Eye's Commander, meanwhile. was wondering how far Tsubasa was willing to go. He had already known that the Captain of the Infinity could be fierce if provoked, more so if he felt like he was being backed into a corner. His experience told him that Tsubasa was definitely not ready to back down, no matter how much he was up against. A slight smirk, invisible to everyone else, crossed the Commander's face. It was rare that anyone tried to stand up against the Eye. Even Tsubasa's crew, which had initially panicked at the appearance of the Eye, seemed to have calmed, and only the barest traces of fear were still visible in their faces.

"You think that I fear your weaponry. Even the most powerful laser fire you could muster could not even get through our shields, let alone put the slightest scratch on our hull. A single burst from any of our guns and you know that we could take out anything on your ship. We know just where to hit it to do so."

"Yet the only thing you took out on the Nemesis was the weaponry, and that before they fired. They can't have had much more firepower than we do." Tsubasa growled. "And it was clearly some sort of threat."

"Taking down the Nemesis's weaponry was merely a warning shot."

"I thought that the Eye didn't do warning shots."

"It depends on how we want to take down our enemy."

"Oh, so there are various methods of blowing up entire ships with one burst of firepower, hmm?"

"I won't bother boring you with the details of taking out a ship from front to back to avoid hitting the engines and blowing the whole thing to pieces in an instant."

Tsubasa growled at the calm manner of his opponent. The silvernette had been trained extensively in multiple areas of mental fortitude and intimidation tactics, yet he found that his masked opponent was still getting underneath his skin.

"Shall we stop playing games now?" The Eye's Commander said at last, shifting all of his weight casually onto one foot.

"Ren." Tsubasa muttered.

"I do believe that I had mentioned to you previously… That I wear a spacesuit at all times?"

Tsubasa looked confused, but Zero and the others gasped sharply.

"What are you talking about?" Tsubasa asked.

Zero and the others gained large tick marks. "What was that even for?!" They shouted angrily.

Tsubasa's confusion only became more apparent as the Eye's Commander laughed, the amusement in the sound breaking through even the distortion.

"Disengage all weaponry." he chuckled as he strode back to his chair and sat down.

"W-what?" Tsubasa blinked in surprise as every single turret that was on the surface of the Eye sank down, hatches closing over each piece of weaponry and, in an instant, changing the Eye's appearance from bristling spikes to a shimmering, smooth surface.

"Really, Tsubasa. The only reason I bothered keeping you here was to see the look on your face when the secret finally came to light, and quite literally, might I add." As the Commander spoke, steam erupted from his mask as lights underneath the top tier of the Eye's outer hull lit up, revealing… The WBBA Space Core insignia.

Tsubasa's eyes went wide. "W-what is this?!" He yelled angrily.

"Well, quite simply… Allow me to formally reintroduce the WBBA flagship, Eye of the Storm." Gingka grinned mischievously as his mask retracted.

"... I hate you." Tsubasa growled.

Gingka merely laughed. "You should see the look on your face right now. Priceless."

"I'm tempted to still fire on you anyway for that." Tsubasa growled.

"Well, you could, but that would be considered an act of treason, so… I wouldn't do that if I were you. Plus our shields are still up,so it'd have no effect and I'd be forced to lock you up with Argo." Gingka chuckled, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back comfortably, closing his eyes.

"I don't believe this." Tsubasa threw up his hands and turned, sitting back down in his own chair. "You literally played both sides of this conflict just for the laughs, didn't you?!"

"That pretty much sums it up." Gingka sighed contentedly as the masks of his high command retracted to reveal much friendlier faces then their masks had suggested.

"What now then?" Tsubasa sighed deeply.

"Well, obviously we go after the Nemesis. No point in staying here at Mustafar while it attacks Earth."

Tsubasa and the others recoiled at that statement.

"We have to go now."

"Dynamis, release the tractor beam. Tsubasa… We're right behind you, but we will appear cloaked when we arrive. Don't give any indication that we followed you. Let them assume that you escaped the same way they did. We'll infiltrate using some of our… Usual methods." Gingka smirked slightly.

"You are an idiot. A hopeless idiot." Tsubasa sighed.

"Also overdramatic much?" Kite grunted.

"Blame my dad for my dramatic flair." Gingka said calmly, standing and pressing a button on the armrest of his chair, causing a screen to rise out of the ground in front of him.

"So when he said he was kidnapped, was that code for 'you picked him up?' Tsubasa asked.

"No. The Nemesis actually did kidnap him, but I rescued him as myself. Since we have Argo, Doji doesn't know that the Eye is, and has always been, under WBBA command.

"Well, now we know just about everything there is to know about the Eye." Eight sighed.

"Just hang on a second though." Maru said. "If the Eye is an ally, then why did it attack my home planet all those years ago when I was little?"

Gingka frowned slightly. "That was probably before I was aboard, when Argo had main command of it, although the WBBA kept a close eye on him. What would be the approximate date and planet for that attack?"

"About twelve years ago. The planet was Alderaan." Maru replied quietly.

Gingka narrowed his eyes slightly as he tapped in several places on his screen.

"Hmm… Argo's reported it as putting down a small uprising of rebels in the main log… But he would have known that that could be checked, so hang on a second…"

The group in the Infinity waited.

"Aha. It was an attack that he shouldn't have done. He attacked WBBA allies that were fighting his family. Well, that's one more thing to add to the list of crimes he's committed…" Gingka sighed.

Maru growled. "We've gotta stop him…"

"Well then, we'd better get moving. Earth is about two hours away." Gingka said. "We have to get into a position more suitable for jumping to lightspeed though."

"I suppose we'll take off and give you the space to do so." Tsubasa said. "Zero?"

"On it." Zero said.

"We'll meet you there then." Gingka sat back down in his command position and smirked. "Seriously though, the look on your face."

Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. Priceless."

Gingka grinned. "Good luck. You'll be the main attacker once you get there. Don't underestimate the Nemesis though. It's definitely going to be a tough opponent. However, they'll likely be attacking the surface by the time we get there, so don't hold back."

"Got it."

"We're in position now." Zero said.

"Good. Off we go then." Tsubasa sighed.

"Good luck, Captain." Gingka said.

"You too, Commander… But could you please wipe that smug look off your face?!"

Gingka laughed. "Hey, don't stay mad at me for scaring you like that."

Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "I'm not mad." he said before cutting off the connection.

Gingka chucked. "Sure, sure." he looked back towards the other nine, the rest of the group known collectively as the Steel Warriors. "Get us into position to head to Earth. Activate the cloaking device once we're there, and-"

"I know, I know, Hagane. Jump into lightspeed the moment we're ready to."

Gingka chuckled. "Exactly, Ryuga." The redhead leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "So much for the mystery we've caused. After today, everyone will know."

"Things change. The tables have been turned now." Dynamis said.

"I suppose, by 'the tables have been turned,' you meant that our secret is now out, or going to be." Kyoya muttered.

"It's about time for it to be, if you ask me. I'm sick of hiding." King spoke up.

Gingka chuckled.

"We're in position now. Cloaking device activating. Jumping to lightspeed in five…"

"Four…"

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One."

* * *

**Yes. Yes I did. It was Gingka all along. Now you all see why I was laughing so hard whenever someone tried to guess who the Eye's commander was, because almost nobody ever thought to factor in the Stormflight mask, which has blue eyes. -giggles- So, I said that the Commander had blue eyes to throw you off, said he was a canon character, and that drew you towards the blue-eyed canon characters and away from Gingka, who knew a whole ton more than he let on before. Only about... Four? People total ever thought that it could be Stormflight's blue-eyed mask. I'm not sorry. Next chapter will obviously begin the final battle, and I honestly don't know how many chapters are left in this thing, lol. Not too many, that's for sure. Anyway, Galaxy out!**


	10. Daredevil

**Yay! New chapter! I had to cram this morning to get this one done, but I had the time for that anyway. -giggles- I had way too much fun with Gingka's daredevil-ness in this chapter. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Sir, we have picked up the Infinity on our sensors. It is headed straight for us."

"Oh? So the idiots managed to escape the Eye as well, after following our example." Doji chuckled. "A pity. I would have preferred them out of the way entirely, but I suppose it can't be helped. Direct some of our weaponry at them and send a few starfighters to discourage any intervention that they may try to accomplish."

"Yes sir."

"Here we go, everyone." Tsubasa said. Zero and the others nodded stiffly, determination shining on their faces.

"Activate weaponry and bring shields up to full power."

"Done."

"Crew of the Infinity, this is Captain Ootori. Prepare for battle with the starship Nemesis."

"Fools." Doji chuckled as he watched the Infinity's weaponry appearing on the surface of the silver ship.

"Starship Nemesis, prepare for battle. We will continue our attack on the surface in the meantime."

"Sir, the Infinity is attempting to communicate with us."

"Open the link." Doji chuckled.

"Last chance, Doji." Tsubasa growled as he appeared on the screen.

"Oh please." Doji laughed. "We already took out the defenses of the entire planet, and you think that you are a threat?"

"It doesn't matter what you've already done. You will be stopped."

Doji laughed. "Your overconfidence will be your failure."

"No… Yours will." Tsubasa smirked slightly.

"We'll see about that." Doji chuckled evilly.

"You still can't fire, can you?" Tsubasa crossed his arms.

Doji narrowed his eyes. "Not directly from our ship, at least not for another hour. But we don't need to use the weaponry on the Nemesis to attack."

"Bring it on." Tsubasa growled.

"Clearly the Infinity is too small to have this sort of attack force. You have a hangar bay, yes, but it's not large enough to hold more than a few shuttles, is it?"

Tsubasa narrowed his eyes.

"The Nemesis, on the other hand." Doji chuckled almost maniacally as the entire front of the Nemesis split down the center. "Was made to be a battleship. We carry hundreds of drones plus a fleet of starfighters. The WBBA would do well to learn from our example and use more space on their ships for weaponry. Not that they're going to ever get the chance."

"We'll see about that." Tsubasa said calmly, wondering if the Eye was already there, behind them, as Gingka had said it would be. There was only one way to find out.

"Well then, I suppose we're finished here." Doji chuckled.

"Quite." Tsubasa cut off the connection.

"Well, that was a rather interesting exchange." Gingka's voice said. Tsubasa nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Could you not do that?!"

"What, suddenly start talking when you didn't know that I was even in communication with you?"

"Yes! How did you do that, anyway?!"

"The Eye can instantly connect to the communication of any other WBBA ship without notifying the other ship."

"Oh… Little warning though, please?"

"Sorry, couldn't let Doji know that I was here already."

"So what's the plan?"

"Give them all you've got. Doji's wrong about the WBBA not fully arming their ships. The Infinity was just designed as a peacemaking ship. The Eye, on the other hand, well, you've seen our weaponry, and we've got our own drones and starfighters in the hangar bay."

"So we just attack with all we have and you'll pick up the slack?"

"Pretty much. We already have a few squadrons of starfighters cloaked and within the atmosphere, trailing Doji's forces there. Our long-range sensors are picking up the rest of the DNA fleet heading this way, but we should be able to handle them. Our Space Dock we cloaked and locked down the moment we knew the Nemesis was coming here, so it's safe."

"Now you're just showing off."

"A bit." Gingka admitted with an amused chuckle. "Although the Space Dock crew and any starships there will be panicking about now at the fact that they can't leave or do anything, basically. Shields are up fully, but nothing enters or leaves."

"Anything else you care to tell me about your ship's abilities that I should know?" Tsubasa sweatdropped.

"Ehh, the rest of the fleet has been alerted and is probably on their way." Gingka replied. "But I think we'll be done here before they can arrive, since they're all pretty far out. I didn't send out the alert until we got here."

A sudden burst of fire from the Nemesis's starfighters rocked the Infinity slightly.

"Battle stations!" Tsubasa called. "Return fire!"

"Eye of the Storm, standby for battle. Starfighter squad one, let's go." Gingka said. "Stormheart, you're in charge."

"Yes Commander." A female voice said with a slight chuckle.

"Uhh, not to be rude, but who are you?" Tsubasa asked.

"She's my wife." Gingka replied. "And quite capable of commanding the Eye as well."

"What he said. Nice to meet you, Captain Ootori. My name is Madoka."

"I see. Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Hagane." Tsubasa leaned back in his chair as laser fire burst from the Infinity.

"Madoka, open the top hangar door, would you?" Gingka said. "We're ready for takeoff down here."

"Right on it." Madoka replied, pressing a few buttons on the bridge. "Be careful!"

"Don't worry." Gingka chuckled. "If I get in trouble you have permission to rescue me."

Madoka saluted. "Yes sir!"

"Alright guys, let's take this outside." Gingka said.

"Right behind you." Kyoya said.

"Delta formation behind me. Uncloak underneath the Infinity and do a splitup attack from there."

"Now you're really just showing off." Kyoya's voice cut in.

"Sheesh, am I the only one sitting in a starfighter right now?!" Gingka said sarcastically. "I believe the answer to that is no, now shut up Kyoya."

Kyoya merely huffed. "Starfighter Leone, ready for takeoff."

"Hangar doors open. Good luck guys." Madoka said.

"Time to make some fireworks!" King whooped.

"Small bursts of starship fuel being detected underneath us." Ren reported.

"Well then, everything's in place." Gingka chuckled. "And three… Two… One! Break off!"

"Sir, a group of ten starfighters just appeared under the Infinity. They are breaking out of a formation and attacking our forces."

"Hagane." Doji growled as he saw Gingka's silver and blue starfighter zip past the window. "A snake is nothing without its head. Target him."

"Yes sir."

"Well, this should be interesting. Let's go!" Gingka whooped, laser bursts flaring from the twin guns at the front of his starfighter and hitting several drones that came at him.

"Get underneath him." Doji growled. "He doesn't seem to have the ability to fire down or completely back with those guns."

"Think again!" Gingka whooped as two more guns popped out from the underside of his ship, taking out two drones simultaneously.

Doji growled. "Whatever it takes, take him out, then the others."

"Hagane's not the only one you should be paying attention to." Ryuga growled, suddenly darting straight down the center of the Nemesis and leaving a streak of scorched metal across the ship as he hit it with his own firepower.

"What the-?!" Doji growled. "Don't let him do that again!"

"Where do you think you're going?!" Kyoya chased down several drones that had broken off from chasing him.

"I've got it!" King whooped, taking out several of the drones Kyoya had been chasing.

"Hey! I was gonna shoot those down!" Tithi exclaimed.

"Too slow!" Kenta laughed.

"So are you!" Yuki whooped.

"Hey! Those were mine!" Kyoya snarled, an invisible burst of something coming from his ship and smashing one drone into another effortlessly.

"Sorry guys, but I'm still having the most fun!" Gingka whooped, darting between his allies with half a dozen drones chasing him. Tick marks appeared on Kyoya and Ryuga's faces before their crossfire destroyed the drones.

"... Idiot." Chris and Agume muttered, taking out drones almost mechanically.

Several bursts of fire from the Infinity caused a few of the starfighters from the Nemesis to explode.

"Yeah! We got him!" Zero whooped.

"You're not even the one firing those." Shinobu sweatdropped.

"So?!" Zero asked.

Gingka laughed. "It's strangely fun, is it not?"

"If it weren't for the people in those starfighters…" Maru muttered under her breath.

"Gingka, watch your tail. There's one drone that's managed to get rather close and is out of your weapon range." Madoka said.

"Kyo-"

"Got it." Kyoya said before Gingka could finish.

"That was uncomfortably close, but whatever." Gingka chuckled, flying away from the exploding drone. Madoka sighed.

Tsubasa and his crew watched through their window as the ten WBBA starfighters spiraled around, laser fire flying in every direction.

"Attack pattern Firework, go for it!" Gingka whooped.

"Not that one! Gingka, do you have to be so reckless?!" Madoka exclaimed, facepalming.

"Yahoo!" Was the response from Gingka as all of the starfighters turned and flew straight towards each other.

"That's a collision course!" Tsubasa yelped.

"I know..." Madoka groaned.

The ten starfighters flew closer and closer, gathering into what looked almost like a tight ball formation that appeared to be causing an imminent explosion that would cause the loss of the entire High Command of the WBBA. Tsubasa and the others braced for the imminent impact and explosion, but it never came. Instead, the starfighters spiraled around each other and abruptly shot back out, firing burst from all of their weaponry and taking out a surprising amount of drones.

"This is what I get for letting those idiots play around outside with their starfighters when they're not occupied destroying enemy ships." Madoka groaned.

"Hey, not my fault we come up with some pretty epic attack patterns." Gingka laughed.

Madoka rolled her eyes. "Boys…"

"Hey Kyoya, let's go for a tornado attack pattern."

"Another one?!" Madoka yelped.

"On it."

Doji growled. "What are they planning now?! Just how did they manage that maneuver?!"

"Gingka you're going to give me a heart attack!"Madoka shouted, watching as the Pegasus began spinning rapidly and drilling through the empty space between it and the Nemesis, while Kyoya's starfighter, the Leone, went into a corkscrew movement around the Pegasus. Laserfire shot from both ships, and, much to the shock of Doji and Tsubasa, plus their crews, drilled a hole right through the front end of the Nemesis. Gingka and Kyoya shot through the hole they had created before splitting apart and flying off in different directions.

"I'm fine, Madoka. How many times do you think I practiced these maneuvers in simulators?" Gingka asked.

Madoka sighed. "It only takes one mistake for you guys to crash and die you know."

"Well then, we'd better not make any mistakes." Gingka said.

Madoka groaned.

"Hey Kenta, Crossbow?" Kyoya suggested.

"Don't have to ask me!" Kenta maneuvered his starfighter directly in front of Kyoya's. In the same instant, Kyoya targeted Kenta with his weaponry, while Kenta's finger hovered over the lever that would push his engines to their maximum.

"Three, two, one, Wind Strike!" Kyoya called, pressing a button and sending a blast of invisible fire towards Kenta's starfighter, while Kenta pushed his engines to their max, effectively causing the starfighter Saggitario to be fired away from the Leone like a projectile that the Nemesis had no way of evading. A second streak of blackened, damaged metal appeared in an instant before Kenta spiraled in a corkscrew to lose momentum.

"Yeah! Good job guys." Gingka whooped.

"Gingka, incoming!" Madoka yelped as several more dark warships suddenly appeared, weapons bristling from them almost instantly.

"This is the starship Bahamoote. Surrender!"

"Not a chance of that!"

"Gahh! Gingka, wait up!"

"Gingka, you're not in the Eye!" Madoka yelped. "Be careful!"

Gingka, however, ignored everyone and barreled towards the newly-arrived DNA fleet with all of his weaponry blazing. However, they were ready for him. Gingka yelped as a few blackened spots appeared on his starfighter.

"Okay, let's not get hit again." He said, spiraling around and making another attack run.

"Gingka, can't you just let us use the Eye's weaponry for this?!" Madoka pleaded.

"Not yet! It's not time for that yet!" Gingka exclaimed. By now, his allies were racing towards him, their own weapons blazing.

"You will not last!" The pastel-haired captain of the Bahamoote exclaimed.

"Watch me, Kira." Gingka smirked. "I've always got a backup plan."

"Except for that one time…" Ryuga muttered.

"On-ship shenanigans don't count, Ryuga, and now's not the time to bring that up." Gingka snapped.

"Fire!" Kira exclaimed.

"Gingka!" Madoka screeched as the Bahamoote opened fire on the Pegasus, which disappeared in a sudden explosion, leaving Gingka's allies staring in shock.

* * *

**Yes. Yes I did just do that. First I hit you guys with "Daijoubu Ja Nai," then I give you this. Enjoy the suspense for the week. XP**

**Gingka: Why can't you just leave me alone for once?!**

**Me: Because that's no fun! Anyway, this may or may not be the second to last chapter. I'm not sure. If the next chapter is the last I'll know then. It depends on how long it's gonna take these bakas to finish the battle. Anyway, until next time, Galaxy out!**


	11. Panic

**I'ma back! You'll all hate me after this, but I don't care! -giggles-**

* * *

"Gingka, you idiot!" Kyoya's voice was the only thing heard after the explosion. Tsubasa and the others merely stared in shock at the fading flames that indicated where Gingka and his starfighter had been merely an instant before. A shocked silence fell over the entire communication link for a few moments before an enraged shriek came from Madoka, followed closely by a slapping sound and a startled yelp.

"BAKA!" Madoka shouted.

"... Okay, I suppose I deserved that." Gingka's voice came before a video link opened with the Eye revealing a very angry looking Madoka glaring at Gingka, who was wincing and rubbing his reddened cheek.

"Warn me next time before you decide to look like you just died!" Madoka yelled, hugging Gingka tightly.

"Sorry, can't warn you about split-second decisions to teleport myself and the Pegasus simultaneously while leaving behind an explosive to make it look like I was defeated." Gingka chuckled, hugging his wife back after kissing her forehead.

"You… Are in so much trouble." Kyoya snarled.

"I know, I know. You can get me back for that after we've finished this battle. Now…" Gingka grinned, the ever-present mischief in his eyes sparking up into a flame. "Shall we alert our enemies to our presence, or wait a little longer, playing off of my supposed death?"

"Wait a little longer." Zero spoke up. "It'll be funnier to see their reactions if they get a little triumphant first."

"I like your way of thinking." Gingka laughed. "Very well then. The Eye remains hidden for a while longer. Kyoya, you're leading the charge, or are appearing to do so. Finish off the Nemesis within the next five minutes. It'd be best if it were destroyed before our fleet got here."

"That we can do. Kenta, Crossbow. King, you and I will follow up instantly afterwards with a tornado. Kenta, after you've done your Crossbow, meet up with the others and do a firework, then another one. King and I will join in on the second one."

"I like that idea. Nice and quick and dramatic. It'll show the rest of the DNA fleet that they can't beat us. Good luck. I'll be working on getting the Eye ready for a full-blown attack run. Tsubasa, try to keep the drones and DNA ships occupied." Gingka said.

"On it. Zero, move us a bit closer to their fleet." Tsubasa said.

"Yes sir." Zero said, as the Infinity began to move.

"This is Captain Ootori speaking. All guns fire on the DNA fleet. I want a single five-second burst firing at every ship as a warning on my signal."

Gingka watched calmly from the Eye as the Infinity moved into position, red bursts of firepower striking several places on the enemy ships. Quickly, the DNA fleet began targeting the Infinity and firing at it, although for some reason their firepower never reached the Infinity, instead hitting invisible barriers at various places. Gingka's fingertips spiraled in various directions on the screen that was now in front of him. Madoka rolled her eyes at the smirk that grew across her husband's face as he simply played with the minds of his enemies.

"How are you doing that?" Tsubasa asked.

"Cloaked drones. Easily replaceable and great for tricks like this." Gingka replied with a grin.

"You have way too much fun with these." Madoka rolled her eyes and leaned her head on Gingka's shoulder. The redhead smiled and wrapped his free arm around her waist securely. At the sight of the couple standing on the bridge together, Kite winked at Ren and Zero, who rolled their eyes and blushed.

"I take it there's a mutual crush or dating going on between those two?" Gingka said suddenly. The eyes of the group went wide.

"How did you-?!" Zero exclaimed.

Gingka laughed. "Not much escapes my eye any more."

Zero and Ren turned redder as Madoka chuckled under her breath.

"Hagane, focus." Kyoya snapped.

"I'm focusing! I can focus and chat at the same time." Gingka rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." Kyoya muttered.

Gingka watched as the other nine starfighters raced directly towards the Eye. In an instant, Kenta had taken the lead of the line and was being fired at blazing speed towards the Nemesis, leaving yet another blackened streak across its outer hull. Before the Nemesis could react, Kyoya and King had drilled another hole through its hull. Red lights flashed around the ship as it directed its remaining drones to attack. However, right on cue, Kenta and the other six starfighters once more exploded from a tight bunch, neutralizing the drones' attack.

Doji growled angrily at the sight of the others still attacking.

"Kira. Get past the Infinity and get over here to destroy these idiots." Doji growled.

"I'm working on it, but I can't get past it." Kira growled.

"You're letting one little WBBA ship beat you?" Doji growled. "Blow it apart!"

"We're trying!" Kira snapped. "Something's blocking our shots!"

"Then destroy it!"

"Nothing is showing up on our sensors! We don't know what's doing it!" Kira shouted.

Doji growled. "Call the Infinity."

"Yes?" Tsubasa said calmly as he answered.

"What is your game?" Doji growled.

"I'm not the one playing the games here." Tsubasa replied.

"Oh, you aren't? Then let our ships through or they'll destroy you." Doji growled.

"They can't." Tsubasa replied. "We've all been playing a game for a long time. Gingka is the one you should be calling."

"He was just destroyed by our ships." Doji huffed.

"Or so it appeared. I'm actually right here." Gingka chuckled.

Doji recoiled in shock. "What?!"

"I can teleport, remember?" Gingka sweatdropped.

Doji growled. "You will fall like the rest."

"I'd like to see you keep saying that when you actually know what I'm doing." Gingka replied.

"Then what are you doing?" Doji growled.

"Easy. I'm keeping your fleet from reaching you. Kyoya and the others are about to destroy you entirely. You'd better be ready for that, although I'll show you one more thing before you go."

"And what is that?" Doji growled.

Gingka smirked as he and Madoka appeared on the screens of both Doji and Tsubasa.

"I think you can see the insignia on the wall behind me and figure it out." the redhead said with a mischievous smirk as he stepped aside slightly so that Doji could see the spiraling Eye insignia on the black wall at the back of the room. Gingka broke into a broad grin as the captain of the Nemesis recoiled in shock, stumbling back and ending up sitting down in his chair.

"You've already lost. We're cloaked and hovering directly above the Infinity right now. At any moment, we'll uncloak and take out your entire fleet." Gingka said, his voice seemingly lowering the temperature by several degrees and causing everyone who heard it to shudder.

Doji growled. "You can't win against an entire fleet."

"Oh, but I can."

"Impossible. Even the Eye's firepower shouldn't be able to take out our entire fleet."

"It can, although I don't plan on using only the Eye's firepower."

"What do you mean?" Doji growled.

"Attention DNA fleet. This is the WBBA Starship Shogun. You are surrounded. Surrender now or be destroyed."

"Well, it would seem that my fleet has arrived." Gingka said smugly. "Have fun dealing with the starfighters of my high command." With that, all communication between the Eye of the Storm and the Nemesis was cut off.

"You've already lost." Tsubasa said before cutting off the connection between himself and the Nemesis.

"And you told him our location why?" Madoka asked.

"Shock and awe. Now that he knows the Eye is that close, there's not much he'll likely try." Gingka replied. "Mind turning on our Nebula generators for me?"

"Can I have a kiss first?" Madoka asked.

Gingka laughed and kissed his wife. "Do you have to ask?"

Madoka smiled and winked, then turned and strode over to a chair, tucking the long end of her coat underneath her as she sat down and began pressing several buttons. Gingka turned and looked out the window, smirking slightly as red, purple, and blue gases began to appear around the Eye.

"Captain Hayama, something seems to be forming above the Infinity." one of Kira's crew members reported. Kira narrowed his one visible eye, easily spotting the rapidly growing cloud of colorful gases.

"Scan it." he ordered. "Find out what it is."

"... Gingka, are you making a nebula?" Tsubasa asked in surprise.

"Pretty much." Gingka grinned. "Remember those tactics I mentioned? This is one of them. The fear of the unknown is a powerful weapon, and a bunch of nebulous gases suddenly appearing out of nowhere is definitely something that will put an uneasy feeling into anyone's mind. This will now go one of two ways. We'll see what the DNA fleet decides to do."

"Sir, it seems to be a mass of superheated gases."

"A nebula? Appearing out of nowhere? Find a match."

"There is nothing, sir. We do not know how it is happening It's just appearing."

"Fire a plasma burst at it and get rid of it." Kira ordered.

"Gingka, they're powering up their weapons." Madoka said.

"Shields up!" Gingka ordered. "Prepare to uncloak! Prepare… For full battle!"

"What is that?" Several of the WBBA captains were wondering.

"Attention WBBA fleet. This is the flagship. Do not fire on the cloud of nebulous gases forming above the Infinity."

"Yes, Commander. May I ask why not?"

"Because we are creating it, simple as that. Standby. The DNA ship Bahamoote is preparing to fire on it. That's what we want them to do. Prepare weapons and await my signal to fire on all DNA ships simultaneously."

"Yes sir!" the response came from the other ships. Gingka smirked.

"So the final attack begins. Madoka, you've got the bridge. I'm going topside."

"You're kidding me." Madoka sweatdropped.

Gingka grinned. "Nope. As soon as that plasma has been cleared, I'm making another attack run.

"I'm not going to be able to convince you to not do this, am I?" Madoka sighed.

Gingka kissed the brunette gently. "Nope." he said breathlessly, pulling away and striding powerfully off, his coat flapping slightly behind him.

Madoka sighed. "Be careful…"

"Tamashii, prepare to open Airlock 235."

"Airlock ready." The computer reported.

"Good. Activate turbolift to airlock."

"Activated."

"Activate full helmet functions and seal."

"Activated." Tamashii replied as a small silvery wire ran up Gingka's neck, hooked itself over his ear, and ran down the side of his face until it had formed into a complete headset. Metal plates began unfolding and moving into place against his neck and chin, continuing on up his face. A pair of lenses slid into the empty holes the plates left before locking into place and lighting up in a bright blue glow as Gingka's blazing red hair was covered by royal blue strands. A slight amount of steam rose from the edges of each plate as the helmet sealed completely.

Gingka stretched his fingers out, then clenched them into fists, black gloves creaking slightly as he did so.

"Full suit functions operational. Stormflight system is ready." Tamashii reported.

"Good." Gingka said, stepping towards a large cylinder which slid open with a slight whooshing noise. Gingka stepped calmly inside and the cylinder closed around him.

"Kyoya, come in."

"Yes, Hagane?"

"Have everyone suit up and seal up. It's about time we showed our dual-attack techniques."

Kyoya grinned as he pulled out of an attack run on the Nemesis. "About time you said that."

Gingka chuckled. "Well, I figured it would be fitting, since we're officially revealing the Eye of the Storm as the WBBA flagship."

"Activate and seal all suits then before splitting?" Ryuga said.

"Exactly. The Bahamoote will have our nebula destroyed in a few seconds. Wait for my signal, but be ready to leap into action at any moment." Gingka replied.

"This will be fun." Kyoya smirked.

"Fire!" Kira ordered.

"Uncloak the Eye, now!" Gingka gave the order, and, as shimmering gases gave way to flames, the Eye of the Storm appeared, proudly displaying both its own insignia and that of the WBBA.

"Showoff." Kenta laughed as he caught sight of the blue-clad figure standing right atop the bridge of the Eye.

Gingka had planted his boots wide apart and magnetized them so that he wouldn't go floating off. His arms were crossed as he stared calmly at the DNA fleet. Everything seemed to freeze for several minutes as the WBBA crews began to freak out, only to sink into confusion as they noticed the WBBA's insignia blazing across the Eye's outer hull. The DNA crews, on the other hand, freaked out as they saw the spiraling eye shape, and nearly went into uncontrollable panic once they saw the WBBA insignia also on the Eye's surface.

"This is the WBBA flagship. The truth behind the enigma known as the Eye of the Storm has now been revealed for anyone to see and know. News will spread quickly enough of our true identity, but right now I only have one question, and it's for the DNA." Gingka said, fully utilizing the voice distortion systems in his mask, while using the Eye's communication systems to project his voice into every ship within range.

Kira and Doji growled, every DNA captain standing rigid. Their brains had already told them what Gingka was likely about to ask.

"Do you still think that this is a battle you can win?" Gingka asked after giving a signal to the waiting group in their starfighters behind him.

"Teleport Commander Doji aboard the Bahamoote. Now." Kira gave a sudden order.

"Take it down?" Kyoya asked.

"Take it down." Gingka confirmed with a smirk. "And make the split."

"Ejecting in three."

"Two."

"One."

"What in the world?!" Tsuabsa yelped as the cockpits of all nine starfighters opened, their occupants shooting out of them. Within seconds, the starfighters had managed to blow up the Nemesis before disappearing, providing a large explosion behind the nine masked figures as they joined their leader in standing atop the Eye of the Storm.

"Like I said." Gingka repeated. "Do you really… Think… That you can win this battle?"

Before anyone could react, several thousand hatches opened up on the Eye. Weaponry of multiple kinds rose out of every single hatch, giving the Eye a spiked appearance within seconds. The crews of the DNA ships tensed.

"To put it formally, as usual… This is the Eye of the Storm. Surrender and we may spare you from being destroyed now."

* * *

**Bam! The final battle is well underway now. Apparently I am going to have about another chapter in this. Probably only one more chapter. That means it's time for mysterious paragraphs or something like that! Here you guys go!**

Decisions. Some are easy, some are extremely difficult. Some require only a split second to make, while others may take years to think about. Words we hear echo in our minds, some only for a short while, while others may echo forever. The decisions we make affect everything around us. When faced with a life or death situation, which would you choose?


	12. Finale

**I'm back! Sorry for missing last week's updating, a church event and procrastination got in the way. Anyway, this is the last chapter, so enjoy!**

* * *

"Sir, what do we do?" Kira asked, turning to Doji, who seemed a bit shaken up, but was still standing on his own.

"Give them all we've got. If we're going down, we may as well take them with us." Doji growled.

"Very well then." Kira said, turning to look back out the window.

"All WBBA ships, fire at will on the DNA fleet." Gingka ordered.

"Sir, the WBBA is attacking." one of Kira's crew members said as the Bahamoote shook.

"I can see that!" Kira snapped. "Evasive action, return fire!"

"Ready?" Gingka asked, grinning underneath his mask as he turned slightly to glance at the group standing slightly behind him.

"Always." They replied in unison.

"Then… Let's go." Gingka slowly crouched down on one knee, placing one hand on the outer hull of the Eye. The others soon followed suit. More metal unfolded into jetpacks on the backs of all ten Warriors.

"They're preparing for an attack themselves." Doji breathed.

"It will fail." Kira growled. "I doubt the Eye will fire with them out there. It would be too risky."

"Don't underesti-" Doji was cut off as the Eye unleashed a single powerful shot that shook the Bahamoote, throwing everyone aboard to the ground.

"Get us out of here!" Doji shouted as he regained his balance. Kira's crew looked to their captain.

"You heard him." Kira growled. "Full retreat!"

"Uh, yeah, I don't think so." Madoka said, noticing the DNA ships trying to leave.

"Might as well give the order, Madoka." Gingka's voice came.

"Yes sir!" Madoka said. "Disable their engines."

Tsubasa whistled, impressed as several dozen bursts of pure electricity crackled through space from the Eye. Flames broke out instantly on the engines of all of the DNA ships, as every last one of them stopped moving.

"No way!" Kira yelped.

Doji growled. "Then we take them with us."

"All forces, attack the Eye!" Kira ordered.

"Should we take something else out next or just attack?" Gingka asked.

"Attack. My leg is beginning to cramp up." Chris grunted.

Gingka chuckled. "Very well then. Tamashii… Release magnetic hold in three… Two… One… Now!"

All at once, the ten masked figures sprung from their crouching positions, flames erupting from their jetpacks as they leapt towards the DNA fleet.

"Madoka, disable their main guns. We'll worry about any drones and starfighters they have left." Gingka said.

"On it." Madoka said.

"Get them!" Kira called as all of the DNA ships fired powerful bursts at Gingka and the others who were barrelling towards them.

"Fire!" Madoka ordered, as a single burst of laser fire rippled from the Eye, leaving black scorch marks and flames across the DNA ships.

"Sir, the Eye has disabled all of our weaponry."

Kira growled angrily. "Release our drones and starfighters. Take out their high command, now! Then target the Eye!"

"Here it comes!" Gingka whooped. "Break formation! Attack as you please. Just go at it."

"You don't need to tell us that!" Kyoya smirked, instantly darting for the nearest DNA ship and landing right on its surface. Two of their drones flew at him, but he leapt away at the last second, causing the drones to smash into each other.

"Can't catch me!" Gingka taunted, hovering in front of the window of the Bahamoote's bridge. A quick maneuver narrowly saved the redhead from death as two more drones smashed into each other where he had been moments before.

"Someone get them!" Doji growled.

"We're working on it, sir." A couple of the other DNA ships replied.

"Madoka, cut off their communications. I'm beginning to be ready to just finish this instead of dragging it out."

"Dramatic flair is getting worn out?" Madoka blinked in surprise.

Gingka chuckled. "With all of the craziness of the past few days, yes. A bit."

"I see." Madoka chuckled. "Standing by for your orders, sir!"

Gingka winced. "So formal…" He whined.

"Oh, shut up Hagane. Now's really not the time to flirt." Ryuga snapped.

Gingka paused mid-flight and crossed his arms, pouting. "Always a time to flirt when you have a wife as pretty as mine." he grumbled.

"... Shut up, Hagane. We have a battle to win."

Gingka laughed. "You guys are way too fun to mess with."

Madoka shook her head in amusement and slight embarrassment. "Just get back to the battle, Gingka."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Gingka said, darting off.

"Shall we help?" Tsubasa asked.

"Do they even need it?" Zero asked, watching in amazement as the ten figures spiraled effortlessly through space, neatly dodging every single burst of fire power that was thrown at them.

"Pair up!" Gingka's voice came through the communications link.

"Oh, we're going to do that?" Kenta sounded excited.

"Yep. Delta formation." Gingka replied as he hovered in one place. Ryuga soon joined him as the others lined up in two lines behind them, each pairing up with another Warrior. Grappling cables snaked through space, crossing over each other as they met with the outstretched hands of the opposite Warrior. Gingka clipped the end of Ryuga's cable to his belt, the other nine Warriors soon following suit with their partners' grappling cables.

"Electrify and initiate WEDF attack pattern." Gingka said, leaning to his right, while Ryuga did the same.

"Jetpacks full power." Ryuga said.

"Whoa!" Zero and the others' eyes went wide as, within mere seconds, the five pairs of Warriors had transformed into five deadly disks of solid fire and electricity.

"Off we go!" Gingka whooped. "Tamashii, initiate WEDF settings."

"Initiated." the computer replied.

"They have special settings?" Tsubasa said.

"Well, normal flight techniques wouldn't be too effective here and would be near impossible to use considering that high-speed spinning." Madoka said. "So yeah. There's a special setting that basically puts a few cameras that merely show several different screens and take away the effects of the spinning so that they don't get dizzy. There's an enormous amount of centrifugal force, obviously, and it takes a ton of skill to keep that maintained and under control."

"That much I would have guessed." Tsubasa whistled.

"They've been perfecting this technique for years." Madoka chuckled. "It's only recently been something they've been able to get down completely, and this is the first time it's been used in battle, since usually the Eye just takes everything out with its firepower."

"Naturally. No use bringing out the showoff tactics when you're trying to keep a secret identity, although I suppose there are no secrets left right now." Tsubasa commented, watching as Gingka and Ryuga neatly shredded several DNA drones.

"Not really." Madoka chuckled. "Not after Gingka's rather dramatic revealing of them all."

Tsubasa chuckled and shook his head.

"How many hours of practice went into this…" Zero whispered in awe at the high levels of control that were being put into the formation before them.

"I don't know. If they weren't busy commanding something or sleeping, they were practicing techniques with those suits." Madoka said. "I watched them doing it a lot, from start to finish. It's been an amazing process."

"I'll bet." Tsubasa whistled.

"Tamashii, switch computer systems back to normal. Break formation!" Gingka called suddenly as the entire group disconnected and spiraled away from each other until they were in two separate triangle formations.

"Madoka, cut off their communications."

"On it." Madoka said. "Attention Eye of the Storm. Fire on the DNA fleet, target communication systems."

"Incoming!" Kira's crew exclaimed as the Eye unleashed another burst of firepower. Explosions occurred on every DNA ship, and all of the drones stopped moving, waiting for further orders that would never come.

"Sir, our communications are down!"

Kira growled.

"They're just tearing us apart bit by bit." Doji growled.

"We're sitting ducks!" Kira snarled angrily.

"Let's just take out the rest of the drones one by one." Gingka said. "Then we'll give the order to finish the DNA off."

"You're having way too much fun with this, aren't you?" Kyoya asked with a slight chuckle.

"Hey, we've been hunting these guys down for a while now. Might as well enjoy this." Gingka chuckled.

Ryuga rolled his eyes. "I say we just open fire and take them all out."

"In good time, Ryuga. Open fire on the drones for now." Gingka said, leading his formation in a spiraling attack towards a group of frozen drones, while Ryuga went the opposite direction, towards another group of drones. Bursts of laser fire from wrist-mounted weaponry soon had both groups of drones destroyed, and the two formations turned their attention to the final groups of drones.

"If we're going to do this, may as well make it as dramatic as possible." Gingka said, as the weaponry on his wrist rotated around and clicked into a different position. The blue-clad Warrior then crossed his right arm over his chest, pressing the left one against his left side as a flame ignited on his right wrist.

"That attack technique, hmm?" Kyoya smirked and followed suit, as did the others.

"Dramatic barely cuts it for this one." King laughed.

"Let's go." Gingka grinned underneath his helmet, the glowing blue eyes on his armor gleaming. In an instant, the flamethrower on his right wrist began shooting flames far out into space, throwing Gingka into a tight spin. All ten Warriors were soon engulfed completely in flames as they drilled through space towards their remaining opponents.

Tsubasa held his breath as the drones exploded in a fiery blast, The Warriors soon shot straight out of the explosion, still in formation. A quick movement of their arms and they had stopped spinning, hovering perfectly still in formation with their flamethrowers deactivated.

"Eye of the Storm, teleport me on board the Bahamoote, right to the bridge." Gingka said.

"You sure?"

"Might as well give them the chance to surrender." Gingka said. "If they surrender prepare for boarding. Justice will have to be served, but the crew may be spared from death."

"Got it. You heard him, engineering. Get to it." Madoka said. In an instant, Gingka had disappeared.

"You." Doji growled as Gingka appeared in front of him. The blue-clad Warrior leaned casually against the front window and crossed his arms.

"I assume you're able to guess why I'm here?"

Doji growled. "We will not surrender."

"Very well then. I will still present the terms, however. If you do not surrender, your entire fleet will be destroyed by a single burst of firepower from the Eye and the other WBBA ships. If you surrender, you will not be destroyed, but your entire crews will be taken into custody and will stand trial to determine what their levels of punishment will be. For the captains, however, lifetime sentences or the death penalty will undoubtedly be in place. The choice is yours."

"We will die in battle." Doji growled angrily.

"Very well then." Gingka said, standing and pressing a button on his wrist. "Your funeral." he said as he disappeared, reappearing back in formation with the other Warriors.

"So many lives on those ships… Do they really all deserve death?" Madoka asked.

"Perhaps not." Gingka sighed. "All Warriors, return to the Eye."

"So that's it then? I suppose they didn't surrender." Tsubasa said as he watched the ten Warriors dart back to the sleek black warship, dropping into several hatches that opened up on the surface above the bridge.

"Commander on the bridge." Madoka said, stepping out of the command position as Gingka retook it, the metal face of his helmet gleaming in the dim light.

"Open up our loudspeakers at full volume. I'm going to talk directly to the crews of the DNA ships." Gingka said.

"Link opened." One of the crew members reported.

"Attention DNA crews. This is your last chance. Your commander has chosen to not surrender, but we are willing to spare those of you who are not in agreement with that decision. If you wish to surrender, you have ten minutes to get to the hangar bay of your ship. In exactly ten minutes, everyone in the hangar bays will be teleported aboard the WBBA ships, although you will be taken into custody due to the fact that you currently work for the DNA. However, your lives will be spared if you do this. Think carefully, but quickly, about what you are going to do. Stormflight out." Gingka said before turning and sitting down in his commander's chair with a heavy sigh, leaning back and closing his eyes as his helmet retracted.

"This is always the least fun part, isn't it?" Madoka said.

"Nothing's fun about destroying an entire fleet at once without giving them a chance. Some are different and must be taken out right away because they are an imminent threat and would do damage if they were not taken out, but right now the DNA fleet is no threat and they are completely helpless. I figured I'd give them a chance, if they want to take it. If they don't want to take it, then their blood is on their heads, not mine." the redhead opened his eyes and stood, walking over to a side railing and looking down slightly at the multiple people there standing by, all of them looking to him for orders. Gingka thought for a moment.

"Lock onto any life sign that enters the DNA hangar bays. In exactly ten minutes, teleport them all to holding cells aboard the Eye and the other WBBA ships, should enough DNA crew members choose to surrender for that to be needed."

"Yes sir." the crew responded, and Gingka smiled slightly, stepping away from the railing and moving to the front window to look outside. The DNA ships floated in place, with no engines or communications to help them. Blackened streaks criss-crossed their hulls, and fires still burned from several places where the Eye's firepower had struck. Debris from the destroyed drones was still spreading apart from the explosions that had been the result of the final attack of the Warriors. The Infinity, with its shining silver hull, orbited barely within view, safely sitting just beneath the Eye itself. Just on the other side of the helpless DNA ships, the silver-hulled fleet of WBBA ships orbited, bristling with weaponry and awaiting orders.

"A single order would change this whole scene." Madoka commented, coming up to stand behind Gingka.

"I know. And in ten minutes, it will." Gingka said quietly.

Madoka leaned her head on Gingka's shoulder, slipping her arms around him. "Like you said. They chose to not surrender. Their blood is on their own heads now, just as the blood of every other ship you've destroyed was on their heads."

"I know. Still, the loss of any life is a solemn thing, even if they chose death. Still, it must be finished." Gingka said, turning on one heel and striding back to his chair, leaving Madoka to watch him as he sat down with a wearied sigh.

Madoka walked over and sat down on the armrest of Gingka's chair, pulling his head to her chest. "We are going to go down to the rec room and relax once this is over, okay?"

Gingka sighed and nodded. "Alright."

Madoka smiled, stroking Gingka's hair gently as the redhead closed his eyes tiredly.

"Sir, the ten minutes are up." a crew member soon reported. Gingka opened his eyes and stood, stepping forwards slightly.

"Are we locked on?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Then teleport them to the holding cells as I said before."

"Already done, sir. All crew members who chose to surrender are safely aboard our ships."

"Good." Gingka said, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. "All WBBA ships, open fire. Complete destruction on the DNA fleet."

"Here goes nothing then." Tsubasa said. "Infinity, you heard him. Open fire. Full assault."

Doji growled as the entire WBBA fleet attacked simultaneously, every DNA ship exploding as electricity, fire, and lasers shot from the Eye, creating a dazzling but deadly show of light. Within less than a minute, the entire DNA fleet had been reduced to debris that was glowing with heat.

"And so the battle ends." Gingka said solemnly. "Good work everyone. You may now return to your previously assigned missions or dock at the Space Dock, which has now been uncloaked and reactivated."

A few hours later, the captains and crews of all of the WBBA ships had gathered on the planet below, and were standing in neat rows, all eyes on the stage where Gingka and the other Warriors were standing in full uniform. Ryo, still in his wheelchair, was at the front of the stage rambling on and on about honor and bravery, much to the increasing embarrassment of Gingka, who was clearly growing uncomfortable at the amount of attention he was receiving.

"There is much more to be said about the events of the past few days, but I think I will leave that to my son. Ladies and gentlemen of the WBBA Space Core, please welcome Commander Gingka Hagane, codenamed 'Stormflight,' to the stage." Ryo said, backing up his wheelchair as Gingka stepped forwards. Polite yet excited applause erupted for a few moments as Gingka stood, gathering his thoughts for a few moments before raising one black-gloved hand to signal for silence.

"Clearly, the last week has been rather eventful for the WBBA." Gingka began. "The graduation ceremony that was attacked, the sudden revelation to everyone who didn't already know about Falcon's true identity, the DNA attack and the revelation of many of the WBBA's secrets. Not much needs to be said about these events, since the news has spread like wildfire, but I will say this. No matter what the attack, or who the opponent, the WBBA will not back down. Hopefully, the threat of our flagship will keep further attacks away, but peace is not guaranteed. However, if there is anything whatsoever that I can promise, it is that the Eye of the Storm will never back down from a fight while it is under my command. Our enemies can throw whatever they want at us, but they should consider this…" Gingka paused for a moment, a smirk playing across his lips. "We have the Eye of the Storm, and any challenge to it's power… Would be suicide. Yet bring it on. Any attack will be repelled, and any threat… Will be obliterated."

Tumultuous applause broke out as Gingka stepped back from the podium, nodding slightly to the other Warriors in their brightly-colored uniforms. Broad grins of excitement flashed across all of their faces.

"So let them come!" Gingka shouted as steel masks unfolded and locked into place, ten streaks of flame following the Warriors into the sky as they spiraled upwards in a dazzling display of skill, much to the excitement of the DNA.

Let them come… But let them beware the Eye of the Storm.

* * *

**-excited squealing- It's finished! I love that feeling of finishing another story. Always so much fun! **

**Gingka:... I'm surprised that I didn't get injured in this. All you did was electrocute me.**

**Me: Well, this story kinda had enough drama in it with you being hilariously mischievous and secretive. I seem to have a habit of making you a mysterious figure in everything and everyone's still all surprised about it. Anyway, you guys all know what last-chapter of stuff means! New story announcements! The little teaser bit posted in the last chapter was the summary and first few lines of my next project, "Lost in the Echo," which is named after a song of the same name by Linkin Park. I hope to post it today if I can get the chapter finished. Until then. Galaxy out!**


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